CONVERSATIONS 



ON THE 



HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



• : The dim times of old— the y^ars that are past, are 
marked with mighty deeds." — Ossian. 



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CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



PAGE 

Introduction — Boundaries of Russia, its climate, productions, 
<Nlc. — Its history before the Christian era — The Scythians 



The Sclavi, or Sclavonians, their customs, superstitions, &c. 
— Origin of the name of Russia — Rurik, 862 — Ascold — 
Invasion of Constantinople— First introduction of Christi- 
anity in Russia, 866— Oleg, 879— Igor, Grand Prince in 
912 — Olga, Grand Princess, 945 ; becomes a Christian, 
955 ; dies 968 — The Grand Prince, Sviatoslaf ; dies 972 . 17 



Accession of the Grand Prince, Vladimir the Great — His 
crimes— His conversion to Christianity — Marriage to the 



— Greek colonies — Sarmatians 



1 



CHAPTER II. 



CHAPTER III. 




iv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Greek Princess Anne, 988 — Wise and just government — - 
Death, 1015 — Murder of the Princes Boris and Glieb, 
1015 — Accession of the Grand Prince Jaroslaf, 1019 — 
Invasion of the Greek Empire, 1043— His death, 1054 . 44 



CHAPTEE IV. 

The descendants of Jaroslaf quarrel — Miserable state of 
Russia in the twelfth and following centuries — Sketch of 
the Russian Church — Her determined opposition to the 
supremacy of Rome — Her customs and ceremonies— Her 
superstitious invocation of saints — Tartar invasion, 1223 
— History of Genghis Khan ; his death, 1237 — Second 
invasion of Russia, 1237 — Destruction of Rezan — Vladimir 
— Kief, 1239 — Alexander Nevsky — His journey to the 
" Golden Horde "—His death, 1263— The Grand Duke ; 
his virtues ; his tragical death, 1319— First Era of Rus- 
sian History ended ; . . . . . . .69 



CHAPTEE V. 

Great pestilence, 1349 — The Grand Prince Demetrius, 1363 
— His noble character — Rebuilds the Kremlin about 1370 
— Rise of Tamerlane, 1370 — Tartar invasion under Mamai 
— Battle of the Don, 1378— Conversion of the Permians 
to Christianity, about 1380 — Moscow taken by the Tartars, 
1382— Death of Demetrius, 1389— Grief of Eudoxia— 
Accession of Basil, 1389— Conquests of Tamerlane — He 
enters Russia, 1395 — Death of Vladimir the Brave, 1410 



CONTEXTS. 



V 



— Death of Basil, 1425 — Basil the Blind succeeds him — 
Council of Florence, 1439 — Basil taken prisoner by the 
Tartars, 1445 ; liberated ; blinded, 144G — Constantinople 
taken, 1453— Rise of the Cossacks . . . . .100 



CHAPTEE TI. 

Accession of Ivan Basilovitch the Great, 1462 — Subjection 
of Novgorod, 1471 — Marries Zoe, niece of the Emperor 
Constantine Paleologus, 1472 — Last invasion of the 
Golden Horde, 1480 — Ivan's meanness. — Xoble conduct 
of Vassian — Ivan's daughter marries Alexander of Poland, 
1495 — Quarrel with the Hanseatic League, 1495 — The 
Grand Princess Zoe in disgrace, 1498 — Her death, 1503 — 
That of Ivan, 1505 — His character — Reign of Basil II. — 
Pise of the Glinsky family — Taking of Smolensk, 1514 — 
Divorce of the Grand Princess — Birth of Ivan the Terrible, 
1530 — Death of Basil, 1533 — Manners, customs, &c, of 
Russia — Description of Moscow in 1520, by a German 
traveller 13S 



CHAPTEE TIL 

Accession of Ivan IV., 1533— Death of Helen Glinsky, 1538 
— Marriage of Ivan — Fire at Moscow, 1547 — Siege of 
Kazan, 1553 — Conquest of Astrakhan, 1554 — Treaty of 
commerce with England, 1555 — Death of the Czarina 
Anastasia, 15G0 172 



VI CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

PAGE 

Change in Ivan's character — Death of Adachef, 1560 — 
Livonian Order abolished, 3561 — Ivan's cruelties — Cor- 
respondence with Queen Elizabeth — Heroism and death 
of Philip of Solovetzky — Moscow burnt by the Crimean 
Tartars, 1571 — Stephen Bathory elected King of Poland, 
1573 — Discovery of Siberia by the Cossacks under Jermak, 

1582- 1584 — Murder of the Czarowitch, 1582 — I van treats 
with Queen Elizabeth for the hand of Lady Mary Hastings, 

1583 — His death, 1584 — Accession of Feodor — Riot at 
Moscow — Description of Feodor — Death of Stephen 
Bathory, 1587 — Absolute power of Boris Godounof — His 
ambition — Mysterious fate of the Czarowitch Demetrius, 
1592— Treaty with Sweden, 1595— Death of Feodor, 1598 

— House of Ruric extinct 207 



CONVERSATIONS 

ON THE 

HISTORY OF EUSSIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

Introduction — Boundaries of Russia, its climate, productions, &c. 
Its history before the Christian era — The Scythians— Greek 
colonies — Sarmatians. 

" What a glorious New Year's morning ! the sky 
all blue, the snow so crisp and sparkling ! See, 
the mere is covered with skaters already. I can 
hear their merry voices, and their laughter, as 
they dart across the ice. Oh, poor, poor Eliot, how 
sorry I am you can't be one of them, you who 
skate so beautifully too ! " 

The speaker, a gentle girl of thirteen, turned 
from the window, as she said these last words, and 



2 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



came and sat down on the edge of the sofa by her 
brother. She carefully applied fresh lotion to the 
foot which he had hurt only a few days before, 
then took up her knitting, and remained quietly 
by his side. " Thank you, Kate," said he, after a 
minute's pause, during which the shouts of the 
skaters could plainly be heard, u thank you, dear. 
I am rather sorry I shall not be able to skate these 
holidays at all ; to be sure, it was stupid in me to 
let Selim stumble, and roll over my foot. But you 
know, we can't help it now, and grumbling does 
no good ; and besides I am really glad poor Selim 
did not break his knees." " Yes," answered Kate, 
cheerfully : " papa says it is a proof of your being a 
good horseman that you were not thrown off quite ; 
he and grandmamma were talking about you at 
breakfast, and saying how sorry they felt for your 
disappointment." 

The curly-headed little Dora, who had been 
standing near the window watching the skaters, 
now chimed in eagerly. u Do you know, Eliot, 
what papa is going to do ? He says — " " Hush, 
Dora," interposed the elder and more discreet 
Katharine, shaking her head; "it is not your 
secret, you know." 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



3 



Eliot's curiosity was greatly roused, though he 
did not think it manly to say so, and happily his 
patience was no further tried. A sound was 
heard as of some one carrying a heavy weight 
outside the door ; and Dora flew to open it, clap- 
ping her hands, and exclaiming, " Here comes 
papa, and here comes the secret !" 

Colonel Oakeley and a servant came in, bearing 
a large square parcel, which they set down near 
the sofa. Eliot looked completely puzzled at first ; 
but after a few moments, during which all hands 
were busy unpacking, he caught a glimpse of its 
contents, and then, how the pale face coloured up, 
and the languid eyes sparkled with joy ! " A 
globe ! a terrestrial globe ! " he exclaimed, winding 
his arm round his father's neck, as Colonel Oake- 
ley knelt on the floor, patiently undoing sundry 
knots in the string. " Can it be for me I Oh yes, 
I see it is ; how very kind of you, papa ! " 

" It is your own, my boy," replied Colonel Oake- 
ley ; "and I have had real pleasure in choosing it 
for you, because I know you will value it properly, 
and because both the profit and enjoyment of our 
lessons in geography and history will be much 
increased by having a globe to refer to. I dare 
b 2 



4 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



say," he added, smiling, "you will not object to 
your sisters having a peep at it now and then V 

The globe now stood revealed, to the great 
delight of the whole party, including grandmamma, 
who had just entered the room. Kate turned an 
admiring glance upon it, as she wrapped up the 
sheets of paper, and cleared away the shavings in 
which it had been packed. Dora, with less cere- 
mony, examined it, and turned it round till the 
British Islands came in view. " See," she ex- 
claimed, " what a tiny space England fills on the 
globe, compared with other countries ! Eliot, 
could you have believed it was so small V 

Eliot's English pride was rather hurt by this 
remark, and he was concocting a suitable reply 
when his father stepped in to his aid. 

" The British Islands are indeed small, not so 
the British dominions; those, we know, are so 
vast that the sun never sets upon them. And 
now let me bring you to the point on which I 
wish to fix your attention : Dora has shown us the 
smallest state in Europe ; suppose, Kate, you tell 
us which is the largest?" 

Kate's ready finger pointed out Russia, and 
after wandering over its immense extent for a 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



5 



moment, rested on the city of St. Petersburg. 
" Papa's birth-place," said she. " I love Russia for 
his sake and grandmamma's." " So do I," saidEliot, 
"and I often long to read its history. It seems 
quite unnatural to be so completely in the dark 
about the country where papa spent his childhood." 
" You have expressed the wish more than once," 
said Colonel Oakeley, " and I think I shall now 
be able to gratify it. During the last year I have 
been reading and making extracts from the best 
Russian annalists ; and though I have found in their 
pages much to sadden and disgust, and many 
mournful recitals of civil war, treachery, and blood- 
shed, there is much, on the other hand, to awaken 
our interest, and to command our admiration. This 
evening then, at seven o'clock, we will begin our 
researches into Russian history. They will help 
to beguile poor Eliot's tedious captivity ; and to 
you Kate and Dora they will supply the place of 
regular lessons, in the absence of your friend, 
Miss Turner. 

The hour of seven has just sounded, first from the 
old church tower, then from the cuckoo-clock in 
Colonel Oakeley's study. Eliot's sofa has been 
wheeled round to face the fire, which is glowing 



6 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



and crackling merrily; its blaze is reflected on 
the oak bookshelves, and lights up the dark corners 
of the room and the deep curtained recess of the 
bay-window ; it flickers on Kate's quick-glancing 
knitting-needles, and on Dora's golden curls as she 
and pussy indulge in a game of play upon the rug ; 
its pleasant crackle, and the hum of grandmamma's 
spinning-wheel enliven the quiet room, and rather 
help than distract the attention of the listeners 
when Colonel Oakeley begins to read. 

44 Before we attempt our sketch of the history 
of Russia," said he, 44 it would be desirable to 
refresh our memories as to its geography. By the 
help of Eliot's globe Kate will be able to tell us 
how it is bounded." 44 On the north," answered 
Kate, very slowly, 44 it is bounded by the Icy 
Ocean (Oh, how dreary that sounds!); on the 
north-west by Sweden ; on the west by the Baltic 
Sea, and by Prussian and Austrian Poland ; on the 
south, by Turkey in Europe, the Black Sea, Per- 
sia, the Caspian Sea, Independent Tartary, and 
China; on the east, by the Pacific Ocean. Is 
that right, papa \ " 44 Yes," replied her father, " a 
large extent of the north-west coast of America 
also belongs to the Russian dominions : like them, 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



7 



it is coloured yellow on the globe. You see, Eliot, 
that Russia, including its American possessions, 
lies between the 38th and 79th degrees of latitude, 
and the 19th and 130th of longitude. This gives 
you an idea of the vast size of the country, about 
one-fourth only of which is situated in Europe. 
We need not go into the details of its geography, 
with which you are familiar, but will merely 
remark upon its most striking natural features. 
Tell me, Eliot, the names of some of the greatest 
ranges of mountains in Russia." 

" There is the range of Caucasus, between the 
Caspian and Black Seas, 1 ' said Eliot ; " the Oural 
chain, dividing Europe from Asia, and ending in 
the Frozen Ocean ; the Baikal, far away to the 
east ; and another range of hills, forming the north- 
west boundary of China. The south- w r est corner of 
Russia is not quite flat, I see. A branch of the 
Carpathian mountains runs through part of it." 

" Quite right, Eliot. Now can you help Dora to 
point out some of the leading rivers ?" " There is 
the Niemen or Memel river," said Eliot, "the 
Dw^ina, the Onega, Duna, and Petschora, in 
Europe ; the Obi, J enissei, and Lena, in Asia ; 
all these run north." 



8 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



" You have forgotten the Neva, on which papa 
used to be driven in a sledge," whispered Dora. 
" Ah, the Neva, on which St. Petersburg stands. 
Yes, so I did ! it looks so very small, compared 
with the other rivers. Excuse this digression, 
dear papa. To the south the Oural and Volga 
fall into the Caspian Sea ; the Don, into the Sea 
of Azov ; the Dnieper, Bug, and Dniester, into the 
Black Sea." " We must not forget," said Colonel 
Oakeley, "that Russia contains several large 
inland sheets of water. There are the lakes 
Ladoga and Onega in Europe ; those of Baikal and 
Aral in Asia ; and last, not least, the Caspian Sea> 
which covers an extent nearly equal to the whole 
country of Spain ! " 

As soon as the young trio had recovered from 
the surprise which this announcement gave them, 
their grandmamma remarked, " that their sketch of 
Russia would not be complete without some de- 
scription of the steppes, or flat and treeless wastes, 
which cover many thousand miles of its surface. I 
have been reading an account of them," she said, 
"in Mrs. Somerville's 'Physical Geography They 
begin at the River Dnieper, and stretch over the 
whole of the low lands of Siberia. In winter they 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 9 

become a trackless field of snow, over which fear- 
ful storms rage with a violence which neither man 
nor animal can resist. In spring they are quickly 




covered with short green pasture, on which num- 
berless horses and cattle graze for a time ; but in 
June the scorching sun becomes as destructive as 
the wintry snows. The steppes are parched, no 
showers fall, nor does a drop of dew refresh the 



10 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



thirsty earth. The sun rises and sets like a globe 
of fire, and at mid-day is obscured by a burning 
mist. In some seasons the drought is excessive ; 
the air is filled with dust, the springs dry up, and 
cattle perish by thousands. Such are the Russian 
steppes ; to give you a better idea of their vast- 
ness, I have heard say that the little calf, born on 
the banks of the Dnieper, might wander on east- 
ward, day by day, and year by year, grazing as it 
went, and meeting with no barrier to its progress, 
till it joined the herds of wild cattle that roam at 
large on the borders of the Chinese empire ! " 

" The Oural Mountains, " continued Colonel 
Oakeley, "are rich in gold, platina, copper, and 
other minerals. Central Russia has a temperate 
climate, and produces large crops of wheat, of 
which a great part is exported (that is, Dora, 
sold to foreign countries). Near the Icy Ocean, 
no plant will grow except rein-deer moss, and 
even that scantily; the spongy ground is frozen 
to the depth of two or three hundred feet, and 
few men venture into those dreary regions except 
the bold hunters of the fur-clad animals which 
abound there. And now it only remains briefly to 
notice the principal inhabitants of this immense 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



country. There are the Sclavonian race, who 
inhabit European Eussia and Poland ; to this 
family belong; the wandering tribes of Cossacks, 
whom you used to admire so much, Eliot : there 
are the Finns, described as c small of stature, and 
equally ugly in face and figure," they dwell near 
the White Sea : there are the Mongol Tartars, 
scattered over Asiatic Eussia, and remarkable for 
their olive complexions, high cheek bones, and 
small black eyes ; many of them lead a roving 
life, as their fathers have done before them, and 
subsist on the milk or the flesh of their herds : 
lastly, there are the noble Georgian race, some 
fair, others dark, but all remarkable for height 
and for beauty of feature. Of the religion, customs, 
and manners of these various races, we will speak 
later;' 

" Papa," asked Katharine, " was much known 
about Eussia in the old, old days ; I mean, before 
our Blessed Lord came into the world f" 

" Very little, my dear child ; and that little 
strangely mixed up with wild fables. Eliot could 
tell you of the fleet that sailed from Greece under 
Jason, 1200 years before the Christian era, made 
its way through the Thracian Straits into the 



12 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



Black Sea, and even penetrated into the Sea of 
Asov, then called the Palus Mseotis. Jason, it is 
said, landed on the east coast of the Black Sea, in 
his search after the famous Golden Fleece, of 
which the king of that country had unjustly ob- 
tained possession. The Greek writers tell us of 
many marvellous exploits which he performed 
there. First, he tamed two savage bulls, with 
brazen horns and feet, yoked them to a plough 
made of adamant, and ploughed with them two 
acres of heretofore barren ground. Next, he con- 
quered a furious dragon, which kept watch, night 
and day, by the pillar on which the Golden Fleece 
was hung. By the help of Medea, the king's 
daughter, he recovered the treasure, and carried it 
back to Greece. Homer mentions the land of the 
Cimmerians, lying to the north of the Black Sea, 
so called from its fogs and storms. c There,' he 
says, c the sun, wrapped in unbroken mist, never 
shines forth, and the people grope in perpetual 
darkness.' But such gloomy ideas little suited 
the gay and pleasure-loving Greeks ; accordingly, 
some of their writers tell us of happy regions, 
north of the Black Sea, peopled by a race called 
Hyper-Boreans, or 'dwellers beyond the north.' 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



13 



These people are described as gifted with every 
virtue, and enjoying perfect felicity, in a country 
where storms and pestilence, sickness, want, and 
crime never come. They dwelt in green forest 
glades ; and their food was honey, and the fragrant 
dew of flowers. Their life extended to the term of 
a thousand years ; and, when weary of it, we are 
told that they invited their friends to a banquet, 
crowned their heads with garlands, and threw 
themselves into the waves of the sea." 

" How pretty and fanciful ! " exclaimed Dora. 
" Did the Greeks invent these entertaining stories, 
papa V* 

" It is not easy to say," replied her father ; 
"many suppose that these stories had, at least, 
a foundation of truth ; for instance, some lingering 
tradition of the days before the flood, or even of 
the happy state of Adam and Eve in Eden, might 
account for the legend of the Hyper-Boreans. Some 
say, that Jason^s romantic pursuit of the Golden 
Fleece w 7 as a sort of allegory, and simply meant, 
that with great risk and toil he established a trade 
for wool with the south coast of Russia." 

"Then, papa," said Eliot, "you do not agree 
with our head boy, Scott ; he said, one day, that, 



14 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



in his opinion, the old Greek fables were all absurd 
nonsense, only fit to be burnt." 

" Scott will know better by and by," said 
Colonel Oakeley. " Young gentlemen of his age 
are scarcely competent to lay down the law in such 
matters. However, Eliot, I do not say that I 
should wish to retain all the Greek mythology. 
Far from it. But this I do wish to impress upon 
you, that a deeper meaning, ay, and a higher 
moral, may be gleaned from much of it, than many 
people at first sight imagine. And now, it grows 
late, and we must bring our sketch of ancient 
Russia to an end. Five hundred years before the 
Christian era the Greeks settled a colony on the 
north coast of the Black Sea. They built a town, 
called Olbia, at the mouth of the Dnieper, on or 
near the place where Ochakow now stands. Olbia, 
the Happy, as it was called, became a rich and 
flourishing place ; its inhabitants were versed in 
music, knew much of Homer's Iliad by heart, and 
often recited it while advancing to meet their 
enemies in battle. They appear to have been on 
good terms with the neighbouring tribes, called 
Scythians, for we read of a native chief who built 
himself a palace in Olbia, and adorned it with 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



15 



sculptured sphinxes and griffins. On the western 
bank of the Dnieper, fourteen days' journey from 
the sea. was the burial-place of the Scythian kings ; 
no enemy was ever allowed to set his foot in this 
sacred and carefully guarded spot. These parti- 
culars are given by Herodotus, a Greek historian, 
Kate, who lived about 450 years before Christ." 

Now it so happened, that Kate had lately been 
reading some beautiful stories translated from 
Herodotus. She therefore knew a good deal about 
him, and felt strongly tempted to say so. Happily, 
Kate was not a conceited child, and was at all 
times more anxious to increase her little stock of 
knowledge than to show it off, so she resisted the 
temptation to interrupt her papa, who thus con- 
tinued : — 

" The same historian mentions, as a prodigy, 
that the Scythian winter lasted eight months, and 
that the air during that time was filled with white 
feathers, meaning, of course, snow-flakes. He 
describes some of the Scythian tribes as busied 
in cultivating wheat ; others of fiercer habits, as 
wearing girdles and helmets of gold, handling 
lances made of copper, and quaffing the blood of 
their enemies from drinking-cups made of their 



16 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



skulls. This warlike people were conquered by 
Philip of Macedon, about 360 b.c. Three hundred 
years later, their country was overrun by the Sar- 
matians,^a warlike Asiatic race, and from this 
period the name of Scythia seldom or never occurs 
in the pages of history 

Colonel Oakeley closed his manuscript, and after 
some cheerful talk round the fire, the little party 
dispersed. Kate carefully helped her papa to wheel 
Eliot to his room; while Dora, warned by the 
curfew that it was her bedtime, bounded, with light 
step and merry snatches of song, up the old oak 
staircase. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



17 



CHAPTER II. 

The Sclavi, or Sclavonians, their customs, superstitions, &c. — 
Origin of the name of Russia. Rurik, 862 — Ascold — Invasion 
of Constantinople — First introduction of Christianity in Russia, 
866— Oleg, 879— Igor, Grand Prince in 912— Olga, Grand 
Princess, 945 ; becomes a Christian, 955 ; dies 968 — The 
Grand Prince, Sviatoslaf ; dies 972. 

Colonel Oakeley thus continued: — 

" I have carefully read through the annals of 
Russia, in the first six centuries of the Christian 
era, and have found little in them to interest you. 
The Sarmatians extended their sway, during several 
hundred years, from the Sea of Asov to the banks 
of the Danube ; they in their turn were driven 
out by the Huns, a tribe from the distant wilds of 
Chinese Tartary. This ferocious people, under 
their King Attila, c the terror of the world, and 
scourge of God,'' invaded the Roman empire, and 
laid much of it waste (a.d. 453). The Huns, too, 
passed away, and in the sixth century, the Sclavi, 
or Sclavonians, a tribe from the banks of the Don, 
sprang up in their place, and covered the west of 
/ c 



18 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



Europe. I have extracted from Karamsin's 
excellent history, some particulars respecting this 
very remarkable race, which will, I think, interest 
you highly, the more so, as they are the ancestors 
of the Russian people of our day. At the time we 
speak of, they were idolators, and they continued 
in heathenism, with few exceptions, till the year 
992. 6 A tradition, which has lately been proved 
to have every appearance of truth, reports that 
St. Andrew preached the Gospel in Scythia, pene- 
trated as far as the mountains of Kief, and there 
uttered a prophecy that on those hills the grace of 
God should shine forth. However this may be, 
centuries elapsed before the real conversion of 
Russia 1 . 1 The Sclavi, a strong, active, intelligent 
race, were plunged in the deepest ignorance. They 
owned, indeed, that there was one supreme God, 
but they believed that all earthly things were far 
beneath his notice. To Him, therefore, they never 
prayed, but only to gods of a lower order. There 
are still, I believe, to be seen in Russia circles of 
enormous stones, supposed to have been dedicated 
to these gods, and very much like our ow 7 n Stone- 

1 History of the Eastern Church, by the Rev. J. M. Neale. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 19 

hensre, of which I have shown you engravings. In 
later days they built wooden temples, within which 
they placed idols of the most frightful and grotesque 
appearance, surrounded with images of toads, 
snakes, and other venomous creatures. One of 
these idols is described as being of immense height, 
having four heads and two bodies, and holding in 
one hand a metal horn, which was filled once a 
year with wine by the priest who had the care of 
his temple ; near him were placed his bridle, and a 
silver-hiked sword. Once a year, at harvest-time, 
the surrounding people met to worship him. and to 
offer him a large round cake made with honey. 
So great was the reverence he inspired, that the 
priest, who on this day alone was allowed to touch 
him. held his breath while doing so. The Sclavi 
also believed in a good and an evil spirit, whom 
they called the white and the black god. To the 
former they paid no worship ; the latter they tried 
to appease by continual offerings ; they felt the 
utmost dread of his anger, and believed that nothing 
could keep him in good humour but the music of 
certain diviners, who were therefore called harp- 
players. Amongst their many idols was one called 
Lado, the god of plenty and peace, whose worship 
*c 2 



20 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



consisted of joyous songs and dances. I mention 
him, because in old Russian songs his name is still 
retained ; your grandmamma will tell you that she 
has travelled through remote villages in that 
country where the young people meet in the sum- 
mer evenings, hold hands and dance round and 
round, singing ' Lada, Lada." 6 Among our tra- 
ditions," says Karamsin, c traces may yet be found 
of the idol-worship of the Sclavi ; to this day, our 
peasants speak of sprites and goblins, dwelling in 
the forests, sometimes rising to the height of the 
trees, sometimes shrinking till they are no bigger 
than the blades of grass ; leading travellers astray 
in the trackless woods, or scaring them by rushing 
across their path with dishevelled hair/ These 
apparitions, they affirm, are still to be seen, espe- 
cially before Whitsuntide. The Sclavi worshipped 
certain streams and fountains, and would throw 
offerings of gold or silver coins into them. They 
also held in veneration particular forests, and would 
never suffer the sound of the axe to be heard there. 
But, above all, they worshipped Peroun, the god 
of thunder ; and whenever a storm arose, would fall 
on their faces in extreme terror, believing him to 
be more nearly and awfully present. I have already 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



21 



mentioned their temples, which, though richly 
decked with silver and gold, are described as 
clumsy and ill-built. In one of these, tended by 
four priests, was kept a black horse, supposed to 
have been ridden by the god of war. Before going 
to battle, the people resorted to this animal, as 
to an oracle ; a bundle of lances was laid at his 
feet, and if he sprang clear over them, it was looked 
upon as a sign of success. 

" I fear there is no doubt that the Sclavi some- 
times drank the blood of their enemies ; we read, 
too, that when the Gospel was first preached 
amongst them, it excited their fiercest hatred, and 
that many Christians were sacrificed by them to 
their idols.*' 1 

" Can you tell us the names of any of those 
Christians, papa ?" asked Kate; " I should so much 
like to hear more about them." 

"No particulars of their history have been 
handed down to us," replied Colonel Oakeley; " but 
their record, we trust, is on high, and their names, 
though forgotten on earth, enrolled among the 
noble army of martyrs. 

M The Sclavi," he continued, " were remarkably 
brave and active, bearing cold, hunger, and the 



22 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



severest pain without complaint. They astonished 
the Greeks by the nimbleness with which they 
climbed steep rocks, or swung themselves down 
frightful precipices. They would plunge into rivers 
or swamps, and continue under water a long time, 
by the help of hollow reeds, one end of which they 
held in their mouths, taking care to keep the other 
end above the level of the stream, so as to get a 
constant supply of air. Their naturally fair com- 
plexions were bronzed by exposure to weather; 
they paid no attention to dress, but would appear, 
even at their solemn feasts, in ragged clothing, 
and soiled with mud or dust. Though ferocious in 
battle, the Sclavi were gentle to their prisoners at 
home, and often showed them much kindness. 
Their hospitality was boundless ; the traveller was 
always sure of a welcome, and of the best food 
their huts afforded. As usual in savage countries, 
their women were treated with little respect, and 
made to perform all the household drudgery ; they 
often followed their husbands and brothers to 
battle, and were found dead by their side. The 
unnatural practice prevailed amongst the Sclavi, of 
destroying sickly infants and infirm old people, all, 
in fact, who were unable to wield arms ; nor was it 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



23 



abolished till the bright light of Christianity shone 
upon their darkness. I do not wonder at your 
face of horror, my dearest Dora, and should 
scarcely have shocked you with such details, but 
that they make us more thankful for the blessing 
of a pure and merciful religion. In India and 
China these dreadful practices may still be wit- 
nessed, reminding one of the Psalmist's words, 
- the dark places of the earth are full of cruelty.*' 
You will be surprised, after this, to hear that the 
Sclavi were a light-hearted race, fond of singing, 
dances, and games ; the women loved to wear 
necklaces of beads, or pieces of tinsel strung toge- 
ther ; their food was chiefly Indian corn, and the 
flesh of their herds and flocks. They drank milk, 
or mead, a liquid made from the honey of the wild 
bees, which abounded in their forests. They knew 
something of arithmetic, and divided time by 
months and by years. The w r ord used by them for 
a century signifies 4 the life of man," from which 
we may suppose that many of this hardy race 
attained to extreme old age. They called March 
the month of drought ; June, the month of singing- 
birds ; August, that of summer lightning ; Octo- 
ber, of falling leaves ; November, of snowdrifts. 



24 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



" Karamsin says their ignorance of reading and 
writing was complete; inscriptions were, indeed, 
found in their temples, but none, except the 
priests, could read them. This ignorance lasted 
till the year 865, when Michael, Emperor of the 
East, sent two learned brothers, Cyril and Metho- 
dius, to translate Holy Scripture into the Scla- 
vonian tongue. These good men arranged an 
alphabet, not unlike the Greek one, but with seve- 
ral fresh letters added, and it is known in Russia 
to this day, under the name of the Oyrillian al- 
phabet." 

" Can you tell us, papa," said Eliot, " when the 
Sclavi were first called Russians ? and what is the 
meaning of the name 2" 

" We are informed by Nestor (a monk who 
lived in the tenth century, and wrote the annals of 
his country), that the Sclavonian tribes, weary of 
their bloody and incessant civil wars, resolved, 
a.d. 862, to elect a king. Their choice fell upon 
Rurick, chief of a Norman tribe, called Varingians 
or Russes, that is, wandering hunters ; hence the 
name of Russia. This tribe dwelt on the shores 
of the Baltic, and to them the Sclavi sent messen- 
gers across the sea, saying, ' Our country is vast 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



25 



and fertile, but confusion prevails in it : let Rurick 
and his brothers come, and rule over us.' Rurick 
complied with this request, and fixed the seat of 
his government at Novgorod, a town situated near 
Lake Ilmen. and about ISO miles from the Baltic 
shore. By the death of his brothers he became 
sole master of an immense territory, and of many 
tribes, over which he chose the wisest and bravest 
of his followers to be governors. Thus began in 
Russia what afterwards obtained the name of the 
feudal system. These governors were called the 
vassals of their supreme lord, and enjoyed their 
estates for life, on condition of doing him homage, 
of fighting for him in his wars, and of throwing 
their gates open to him should he stand in need of 
shelter. It gradually became an understood thing 
that their sons were to succeed them, unless they 
forfeited that right by breaking their oaths of 
allegiance. These vassals, in their turn, promised 
protection to their weaker neighbours, on condi- 
tion of receiving from them help in their quarrels, 
and a yearly offering, sometimes of money, some- 
times of a hawk or hound, or some such token of 
submission. The peasants were called serfs, and 
were considered to be the property of their lords, 



26 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



quite as much as the horses or cattle which they 
tended." 

" Poor creatures ! do you think they were very 
miserable, papa?" asked Kate. 

" That would depend much upon the character 
of each individual master," replied Colonel Oake- 
ley ; " it certainly would be for his interest to 
treat his serfs kindly, and he was also bound to 
protect them from injury from without. In the 
then lawless state of Russia perhaps no better 
arrangement for the protection of the weak could 
have been made. The feudal system extended, 
during several hundred years, over great part of 
Europe. In other countries it has gradually died 
away, but in Eussia it still exists ; no serf can 
obtain his freedom except by paying a sum of 
money, which his master, if he prefers keeping 
him in his service, is at liberty to refuse." 

" Papa," asked Eliot, eagerly, " were there any 
ancient knights in Eussia, like those of the Temple 
or St. John of Jerusalem?" 

" You will be disappointed, I fear," said Colonel 
Oakeley, smiling, " when you learn that the oldest 
Eussian order of knighthood, that of St. Andrew, 
does not date further back than 1698. In truth, 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



27 



chivalry never fairly took root among the Sclavonic 
tribes ; when it had reached its highest point in 
Germany, the Russians were yet in a state of bar- 
barism ; and when, at last, they took their place 
amongst civilized nations, the day of chivalry, 
strictly so called, was past. But we must now 
return to Burick. One of his vassals, named As- 
cold, grew weary of repose, and quitted Novgorod 
(a.d. 865) to seek his fortunes in the south of 
Eussia. As he and his followers were marching 
along the bank of the Dnieper they perceived a 
little town, built on a height which commanded 
the river ; on inquiry they learned that its name 
was Kief, and that its inhabitants were a harmless 
people, who maintained peace with their warlike 
neighbours by paying them tribute. Ascold. with- 
out ceremony, made himself master of the town, 
and fixed his residence there. He raised a large 
army, built and manned 200 vessels, and then, with 
true Norman audacity, proclaimed war against the 
Greek empire." 

" That was bold, indeed.** exclaimed Eliot ; 
" but I do not quite understand, papa, what you 
mean by the word Norman V 



28 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



a The dwellers on the Baltic shore," replied 
Colonel Oakeley, "were called Normans or North- 
men. Their skill and daring in seamanship were 
so great that they were styled Sea Kings ; some of 
them, distinguished by the name of Danes, invaded 
Britain at this very time, and filled it with blood- 
shed and terror, until repulsed by our noble Alfred. 
The same sanguinary spirit animated their coun- 
tryman, Ascold, in his expedition against the 
Eastern Empire. He sailed down the Dnieper, and 
along the Black Sea, laying waste all the towns on 
its shore, till he reached Constantinople, to which 
place he laid siege. The Emperor Michael III. 
was then warring in Arabia, but messengers were 
sent to recal him. Meanwhile the trembling peo- 
ple thronged the churches, and Photius, patriarch 
or chief bishop of Constantinople, went in solemn 
procession, at the head of his clergy, to the sea- 
shore, offering up fervent prayers for deliverance. 
Their cry was heard, and their city saved from the 
awful scourge impending over it. We are told 
that a tremendous wind arose, and the sea, which 
had been perfectly calm, grew black and stormy ; 
in a few hours the enemy's fleet was scattered far 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



29 



and wide, most of their vessels sunk, and the few 
w T hich escaped reached Kief in a deplorable con- 
dition. 

" Nestor, the historian, goes on to say, that the 
Russians, terrified by this visitation, dispatched 
messengers to Constantinople, entreating that 
teachers of the true faith might be sent to them. 
That this desire was complied with, we learn from 
the following letter, addressed by Photius to the 
Bishops of the Eastern Church, in 866 : — 

" 4 The Russians/ he says, 4 infamous for cruelty, 
and who in their arrogance lately dared to invade 
our empire, have now renounced idolatry, and 
turned to the faith of Christ our Lord ; these our 
deadly foes have become our faithful allies ; already 
have we sent to them a bishop and a priest, from 
whose hands they eagerly seek for baptism.' 

" The bright hopes expressed in this letter were 
not to be so speedily realized : many indeed, of the 
people of Kief were at this time converted to 
Christianity, but the bulk of the nation remained 
heathen upwards of 120 years longer. 

" Rurick died in 879, and was succeeded by the 
restless and warlike Oleg, whom he had appointed 
guardian to his infant son, Igor. Oleg's first expe- 



so 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



dition was against Kief, of which he made himself 
master by an act of the basest treachery. Leaving 
the bulk of his army at some distance from the 
town, he approached it, accompanied only by a few 
soldiers, whom he concealed amongst the shipping 
on the river's bank. He sent a messenger to inform 
the Prince of Kief that merchants from Novgorod, 
on their way to Greece, desired to greet him. 
The unwary Ascold fell into the trap, and was 
instantly surrounded and stabbed by Oleg's soldiers. 
The traitor then marched into the town, exclaiming, 
as he beheld its beauty and flourishing condition, 
6 Let Kief be the mother of all Russian cities ! 1 
The rest of Qleg's life was spent in ceaseless wars, 
and in extending his dominions from the Baltic 
Sea to the Crimea. We read of his subduing 
several fierce roving tribes, and exacting from them 
a yearly tribute of sable furs. He also attacked 
Constantinople, and carried terror and devastation 
to its very gates. The Emperor Leo the Philo- 
sopher offered him terms of peace, and a treaty 
was concluded between them, Leo swearing to 
observe it, on the four Gospels, while Oleg called 
upon Peroun, the deity of thunder, to bear witness 
to his oath. In token of triumph, Oleg hung up 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



SI 



his buckler over the gate of Constantinople : he 
then returned to Eussia. to spend an unquiet old 
age in adding fresh conquests to his already ex- 
tensive kingdom. Nestor, who is a lover of the 
marvellous, gives the following account of Oleg's 
death. He had a favourite horse, which he used 
daily to ride, till warned by a certain magician 
that it would be the cause of his death. From 
that time he discarded the animal, and would never 
allow it to be named in his presence till five years 
after, when, on inquiry, he learned that it had 
long been dead. He went to the place where the 
skeleton lay, and crushing it with his foot, ex- 
claimed. 1 Is this the enemy they bade me fearT 
While thus he spoke, a serpent glided forth from 
beneath the whitening bones, coiled itself round 
his foot, and stung him till he died. This history, 
Dora. I need not tell you. is either partly, or alto- 
gether fabulous : it is. however, true that Oleg 
died in 912, after a reign of thirty-three years. 

Igor now ascended the throne from which his 
ambitious guardian had so long shut him out. The 
first twenty years of his reign were spent in driving 
back the Tartars, whose bold cavalry perpetually 
hovered on the borders of Eussia, and even threat- 



32 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



ened Kief. He next turned his arms against Con- 
stantinople. For the third time that luckless 
capital, whose citizens were rendered helpless by- 
habits of sloth and luxury, beheld the Russians at 
its gates, its suburbs destroyed, its churches and 
monasteries burnt to ashes, its people cruelly 
slaughtered. Providence, however, once more 
interfered in their behalf, by giving success to a 
recent invention called the Greek Fire. This was 
a composition of saltpetre and other ingredients, 
which was wrapped in flax, and fastened to lances 
and arrows. These weapons, aimed by the Greeks 
at Igor's ships, set many of them in a blaze ; the 
burning wrecks, drifting forth, communicated their 
flames to other vessels. The Russians, believing 
that fire had fallen upon them from heaven, fled in 
dismay, first to the coast of Asia Minor, then to 
the mouths of the Dnieper. 

" The ruling passion of Igor's later days appears 
to have been a thirst for gold. He was slain by 
his own subjects, in a tumult caused by the unjust 
and excessive taxes which he had laid upon them 
(945 a.d.). His widow, Olga, a princess renowned 
for wisdom and beauty, was left guardian of her 
young son, Sviatoslaf. Olga, a name still dear to 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



33 



every Russian, was the daughter of Norman parents, 
and brought up, as a heathen, in a retired village 
near Kief. Igor, it is said, first saw her wdien 
hunting in a neighbouring forest ; her beauty and 
modesty charmed him, and he entreated Oleefs 
permission to make her his wife. We hear nothing 
more of her till after Igor's death, wdien she dis- 
played great decision and even severity in punishing 
his murderers, and in bringing his rebellious sub- 
jects back to their allegiance. Accompanied by 
her son. she visited every part of the empire, dis- 
pensing justice alike to rich and poor, and keeping 
up friendly relations with the surrounding tribes. 
Her intervals of leisure were passed at Kief, and 
there it was that Christianity was first presented 
to her candid and inquiring mind. 

"'Already.* says the historian, 4 Kief had for 
many years re-echoed with the praises of the one 
true God ; churches had been built to his honour, 
and holy prayers and anthems were daily offered 
there.* Olga listened, and an earnest desire for 
further light arose within her. She sent for the 
clergy of the place, meekly submitted herself to 
their teaching, and after a while became fully con- 
vinced of the truth of Christianity. She was 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



baptized at Constantinople (955) with much so- 
lemnity, the patriarch himself performing the rite, 
and the Emperor Oonstantine standing as sponsor. 
Olga arrived at the imperial palace, followed by 
a numerous train of courtiers, by many noble ladies, 
and by all the Russian merchants then residing in 
Constantinople. Constantine and his empress 
came forth to meet the royal stranger, for whom a 
magnificent feast was prepared, with musical in- 
struments, dancing, and songs ; but Olga's thoughts 
were on other things, and she gladly withdrew into 
the privacy of her own apartments, in order to 
converse with the patriarch on the truths and 
mysteries of the Christian faith. The emperor, at 
her departure, made her many rich presents, and 
addressed her by the name of daughter ; nor was 
the spiritual tie that bound these two together 
ever broken. 

" Sviatoslaf, the grand prince, as he was called, 
now assumed the reins of government. His mother, 
on her return to Kief, lost no time in imploring 
him to lay aside the errors of Paganism ; she spoke 
to him of the glorious truths of Christianity, and 
of the peace of mind she had enjoyed ever since 
she embraced it ; but Sviatoslaf turned a deaf ear 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



35 



to her prayers. c Shall I,' he exclaimed, ' adopt a 
new faith, and make myself the laughing-stock of 
my companions in arms V 

u Olga replied that his followers would probably 
be swayed by his example, and embrace the true 
religion, if they saw him do so. Upon this 
Sviatoslaf grew angry, and sternly bade his mother 
cease from her entreaties. She obeyed, though 
with the utmost grief and reluctance ; and never 
afterwards did she neglect to offer up fervent 
prayers to God for the conversion of Russia. 
Meanwhile, her wayward son devoted himself to 
war and conquest. Leaving to Olga the care of 
his kingdom, he led an immense host to the foot 
of the Caucasian Mountains, and subdued whole 
provinces there. He never shrank from his full 
share of danger and hardship. He had neither 
tent nor baggage, but like the meanest of his 
soldiers bore the extremes of heat and cold, slept 
under no canopy but the starry heavens, and had 
no pillow but his saddle. His food was the flesh 
of the horse or wild deer, which he himself roasted 
on a fire of coals. His soldiers took him as their 
model in every thing ; towards his enemies he was 
an honourable foe, for he never attacked any 
d 2 



36 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



town without first sending a herald to proclaim 
these few expressive words : 4 1, Sviatoslaf, march 
against you." On his return from the Caucasus, 
he hastened to the province of Bulgaria, and con- 
quered it. He fixed his head-quarters in the town 
of Pereslav, near the river Varna, and there (like 
Hannibal at Capua) gave himself up for a time to 
luxurious ease. But fearful tidings from home 
soon roused him from his dream of pleasure. A 
Tartar tribe, taking advantage of his absence, had 
burst upon his dominions, and laid siege to Kief, 
where his mother and his young children were. 
Their only defenders were a handful of brave 
soldiers, and all communication with the surround- 
ing country being cut off, they were actually starv- 
ing. A Russian general, named Pritisch, was 
posted some leagues off, on the further bank of the 
Dnieper ; but he knew nothing of their urgent 
need. In this desperate extremity, Olga took 
counsel of her small garrison, and seeing no chance 
of rescue announced to them her intention of 
surrendering on the morrow. A gallant young 
warrior, who knew the Tartar language, now 
stepped forward, and begged his sovereign's per- 
mission to attempt a passage through the enemy's 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 37 

camp to that of Pritisch, in order to apprize him 
of her peril, and that of the royal children. 

" Olga consented ; and the youth, disguising 
himself in Tartar costume, crept out of Kief, with 
a bridle in his hand, and accosted the first group 
of enemies that he saw. He boldly asked them 
for tidings of his horse, which, he pretended, had 
just made its escape. The Tartars, believing him 
to be one of themselves, joined in the search ; nor 
were they undeceived till they saw him fling off his 
cloak, plunge into the river, and swim vigorously 
towards the opposite shore. They discharged a 
shower of arrows after him, but to no purpose. 
The brave youth escaped unhurt, and with the 
speed of light made his way to the Russian camp. 
Pritisch, nothing daunted by the smallness of his 
force, collected a number of boats, and hastened, 
under cover of night, to Kief. He reached it at 
daybreak, and announced his arrival by a loud 
flourish of trumpets. Rapturous shouts from the 
famished citizens replied to this greeting. 

" The Tartars, persuaded that Sviatoslaf himself 
was at hand; retreated in dismay, and as soon as 
it was light sent to propose a truce. The wily 
Russian consented, and by making them believe 



38 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



that the grand prince with a large army was close 
at his rear, obtained for Olga very favourable 
terms. 

" The princess forthwith dispatched some horse- 
men to Bulgaria, to reproach Sviatoslaf with his 
prolonged absence, and entreat that he would 
return to her and his children. The chronicler 
tells us that he was much affected by this message, 
repaired instantly to Kief, and clasped his mother 
and little ones to his breast with the fondest 
caresses. He then pursued the audacious Tartars, 
put them to the rout, and drove them far over the 
Russian frontier. 

" On his return, he tarried awhile at Kief; but 
the spirit of his roving ancestors was strong within 
him, and rendered an inactive life irksome beyond 
endurance. He assembled his nobles, (boyards as 
they were called in Russia,) and told them in 
Olga's presence, that Pereslav was fairer than 
Kief ; that art and nature combined to make it a 
beautiful and desirable resting-place ; that the wine 
and fruits of Greece, the horses of Hungary, the 
honey and wax, the furs and slaves of Russia, were 
all to be found there ; and that thither he purposed 
shortly to return. 



THE HIST R Y 01' RUSSIA. 



S.9 



i: A burst of grief from his mother interrupted 
him. 4 First lay me in my grave, 1 she said ; ; I 
shall not detain thee long, my son ; years and 
sorrow have nearly done their work.' Her words 
were prophetic ; for on the fifth day from that she 
died. She was buried by a Christian priest in a 
spot chosen by herself, and at her express desire 
no funeral games were held around her tomb, lest 
heathen ceremonies should be mixed up with 
them. 

" Sviatoslaf and his children shed many tears 
for this illustrious princess, and all Eussia shared 
their grief, and mourned long and truly over her 
whom Nestor calls the ; day-star of her country.* 5 

" Olga's death was the signal for a renewal of 
war with the Eastern empire. Sviatoslaf sent a 
haughty message to the emperor. J ohn Zimisces, 
insisting on his right to Bulgaria; and saying that 
if that right were questioned he would come and 
assert it at Constantinople. Zimisces, though 
very small in stature, and brought up in luxury, 
was no whit behind his foe in bravery, and promptly 
replied to the challenge. In two days he marched 
to Pereslav with a body of picked men, called the 
Immortal Legion. He surprised SOOO Eussians, 



40 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



while performing military exercises outside the 
gates, and cut them to pieces. A great battle 
followed, and the Russian troops stood like a rock 
against the murderous onslaught of the Greeks. 
At sunset, Zimisces ordered the sacred banner of 
the empire to be unfurled, and dashed with it 
into the heart of the enemy ranks. This decided 
the fate of the battle, and Sviatoslaf and his broken 
forces sullenly retreated to the fortress of Silistria." 

44 On the river Danube," said Katharine, softly, 
to Dora. 

44 Here for more than two months," continued 
Colonel Oakeley, 44 the Russians were closely be- 
leaguered. Scarcely a day passed without their 
attempting to cut their way through the besieging 
army. When repulsed, they marched slowly and 
proudly back to their citadel, covering their 
shoulders with their enormous bucklers. At night 
they waited for the rising of the moon to glide 
forth, lay their dead on funeral piles, and burn 
them. Sviatoslaf was the life and soul of every 
expedition ; astonished at his prowess, and weary 
of so long and bloody a struggle, Zimisces 
challenged him to end it by a single combat. 
But the grand prince wisely declined, saying : — 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



41 



4 1 know my position better than my enemy knows 
his ; if he is tired of life let him find some other 
way of shaking it off." Incensed at this cool 
reply, the emperor gathered his forces for a de- 
cisive attack. Sviatoslaf and his half-famished 
troops met them in the open field, and for many 
hours they fought with equally balanced success. 
Towards evening, a hurricane rose out of the 
south, raising whirlwinds of dust, and driving 
them in the face of the Russian host. There was 
no resisting the fury of the elements, or rather 
the mighty hand of God ; and the grand prince, 
humbled and despairing, was fain to send a herald 
with proposals of peace. Zimisces joyfully em- 
braced them ; and a treaty was drawn up on 
parchment, and the seals of the two monarchs 
appended to it. Nestor has preserved this curious 
document, in which the grand prince promises 
never to molest the Greek empire again. 4 If I 
or my subjects break this engagement,' 1 he says in 
conclusion, 4 may we become yellow as gold, and 
perish by our own swords V 

" Large supplies of food were immediately sent 
by the Greeks to the exhausted Russians, and a 
friendly meeting between the two monarchs was 



42 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



arranged. Zimisces first reached the place of 
rendezvous, on the bank of the Danube ; he was 
on horseback, and surrounded by his glittering 
body-guard. Sviatoslaf came down the river in 
a boat, which he himself helped to row. His 
appearance excited great interest among the 
Greeks, and their writers enter into a minute 
description of him, which I have transcribed for 
your benefit, Dora. He was of middling height, 
well made, with a wide chest, and a look of great 
strength and activity. He was plainly dressed in 
white ; his countenance was dark and lowering, 
and his blue eyes twinkled fiercely from under 
shaggy eye-brows. His nose was broad and flat ; 
on his head grew a long tuft of hair, the badge of 
high nobility in Russia. A gold ear-ring, set with 
pearl and one large ruby, was the only ornament 
he wore. The emperor dismounted to welcome 
his illustrious rival. Sviatoslaf remained seated in 
his boat, and the two monarchs conversed for a 
good while ; and at last parted with every mark of 
cordiality. 

" The grand prince was destined never to see 
his native country again. A hostile tribe attacked 
him at the mouth of the Dnieper, and he and his 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



43 



small but gallant army perished together. Scarcely 
a man escaped to tell the mournful tidings in Kief. 
* Thus fell." says Karamsin. 'the Alexander of our 
Eussian history : a hero who rose superior to 
adversity, and whose exploits equalled those of the 
most renowned warriors sung by Homer." But 
Sviatoslaf. though dear to the poet, must ever 
incur the severest blame of the historian ; for he 
sacrificed the welfare of his people to a vain and 
fatal thirst for glory. He fell in the prime of life, 
in the year 972." 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



CHAPTER III. 

Accession of the Grand Prince, Vladimir the Great — His crimes 
— His conversion to Christianity — Marriage to the Greek 
Princess Anne, 988 — Wise and just government— Death, 1015 
— Murder of the Princes Boris and Glieb, 1015 — Accession of 
the Grand Prince Jaroslaf, 1019 — Invasion of the Greek 
Empire, 1043— His death, 1054. 

" The death of Sviatoslaf," continued Colonel 
Oakeley, when next the little party assembled, 
" was followed by a bloody civil war between his 
two surviving sons. Their father had unwisely 
divided his empire between them, and each desired 
to become master of the whole. Vladimir, the 
youngest, a cruel and artful prince, gained the 
upper hand, treacherously slew his brother, and 
added to his numerous wives that brother's af- 
fianced bride. He took up his abode in Sviatoslaf s 
palace at Kief, and there, in the intervals of his 
wars, lived in oriental splendour. But the voice 
of conscience, reproaching him with the murder of 
his brother, could not be stilled. Hoping by rich 
offerings to appease the anger of the false gods 
whom he worshipped, he erected statues to them 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



45 



in various parts of his kingdom. We are espe- 
cially told of an image of Peroun with a silver 
head, which he placed in front of his palace, 
and before which, horrible to relate, he sacrificed 
human victims. On one occasion, by the advice 
of his boyards, he caused the fairest youths and 
maidens of Kief to draw lots who should be offered 
up as a victim to the deity of thunder. The lot 
fell on a gentle and promising youth, named Theo- 
dore, w T hose father had brought him up in the Chris- 
tian faith. A deputation of nobles went to inform 
the unhappy old man of his son's impending fate. 
Inspired alike by parental love, and by abhorrence 
of so frightful a superstition, the aged Ivan gave 
utterance to his grief and indignation, and up- 
braided the men of Kief with their blind folly in 
worshipping images of wood and stone rather than 
the living God. The people, incensed at his bold 
rebuke, rose tumultuously, destroyed Ivan's dwell- 
ing, and called, with loud shouts, for their ap- 
pointed sacrifice. 4 If your idols are truly gods,' 
replied the undaunted old man, holding his son to 
his breast, 4 let them come and tear him from my 
arms.' The furious mob rushed upon the victims, 
who perished clinging to one another. 



46 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



u In spite of these bloody rites, the grand prince 
appears to have been far from satisfied with the 
faith handed down by his pagan ancestors. In 
his perplexity he sent for the most intelligent 
Jews, Mahometans, and Christians, and questioned 
them closely on the subject of religion. He next 
assembled his nobles, and asked their advice in 
the matter. ' Prince,'' they replied, 4 we counsel you 
to send experienced men into foreign countries, 
and let them decide in which place God is most 
worthily honoured/ Accordingly, Vladimir dis- 
patched ten men of great repute for wisdom on 
this mission. In the course of their pilgrimage 
they tarried at Constantinople, and there wit- 
nessed the worship of the true God in the magnifi- 
cent church of St. Sophia. The grandeur of this 
hallowed edifice, the presence of the whole body 
of the Greek clergy, with their patriarch, the peal 
of Venetian bells, the immense variety of marbles, 
' some purple, with silver flowers, some of a rosy hue, 
some golden, some white and red;' all this, and 
more, was viewed with wondering delight by the 
strangers. They were deeply impressed too with the 
silent reverence of the vast congregation, and with 
the chanting of the choir, and expressed their belief 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



47 



that angels from Leaven came down and mingled 
their harmony with the praises of sinful men.*' 

" How beautiful it must have been !" said Eliot. 
" Papa, how long had that church been built ?" 

u Its foundation was laid by the Emperor Jus- 
tinian. n replied Colonel Oakeley, " in 532, and it 
was finished in five years ; but a series of earth- 
quakes having thrown down the east end, Jus- 
tinian had to recommence his labours. Its second 
consecration did not take place till nearly thirty 
years later. On this occasion the emperor is said 
to have exclaimed, ' Glory be to God, who hath 
accounted me worthy of such a work. I have con- 
quered thee, Solomon V An ancient author 
says of this church, ' Who can recount the beauty 
of the walls and piers with which it is glorified I 
The stranger would imagine that he stood in a 
meadow in its height of flower. He would admire 
this sea-blue tint, that leaf-green hue ; he would 
mark how the purple flowers, and how the white 
glitters. Nature has variegated the marbles with 
the most opposite colours, like a painter V 

4; Vladimir's messengers carried back to Eussia 

1 See Neale's History, vol. i. pp. 236. 248. 



48 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



a full description of these glories. 4 Every man,' 
they said, 4 whose lips have tasted a sweet beverage, 
turns away with aversion from a bitter draught, 
therefore we, having made ourselves acquainted 
with the faith of the Greeks, will have no other 
Seeing Vladimir still irresolute, they added, 4 Had 
not that faith been best, would your ancestress, 
Olga, the wisest of womankind, have chosen itV 
and with this argument the grand prince professed 
himself satisfied." 

. 44 Papa," asked Kate, 44 was that cruel Vladimir 
really converted to Christianity I I mean, did he 
repent of his wickedness and become a good 

Oil 

man i 

4t You have asked a hard question, Kate," replied 
her father, 44 one, which at this remote period it is 
impossible to answer w T ith certainty; it would 
seem as if state policy had more to do, at first, 
with Vladimir^s conversion than the desire to 
please God. He afterwards appears to have 
softened very greatly under the benignant in- 
fluences of Christianity, and to have acquired the 
love of his people by a wise and just government. 
Certainly he was a powerful instrument in the 
hand of God for introducing Christianity into 



THE HISTORY OY RUSSIA. 



49 



Russia, and before his death it had made most 
rapid strides through the length and breadth of 
the land, and pierced to its remotest corners. 
You shall now hear how Vladimir's change of 
faith was brought about ; it did not suit his 
haughty spirit humbly to ask for instruction, so he 
marched with a large army to Cherson. a city on 
the Black Sea. which paid allegiance to Constan- 
tinople, and. after some resistance, took possession 
of it, He would not have ventured on this un- 
scrupulous act had not the Greek empire been at 
that time in a wretched state of weakness and 
decay, unable to take care of itself, much less to 
resent an insult from without. Vladimir sent 
envoys from Cherson to the Emperor Basil, com- 
manding, rather than requesting, that the hand of 
his sister, the Princess Anne, should be given him 
in marriage, and professing his willingness, on this 
condition, to embrace Christianity. Anne, we are 
told, shuddered at the idea of leaving her native 
land, and being united to a prince whose ferocious 
character was known far and wide. She bitterly 
bewailed her hard lot. and spoke of it as 4 a cruel 
captivity, more hateful than death itself." But 
there was no escape, and she shortly afterwards em- 

E 



50 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



barked for Cherson, with a train of nobles and of 
clergy. The joyful greeting which she received 
from the inhabitants of that city must have revived 
her fainting spirit ; she was led with acclamations 
to the palace of her semi- barbarous lord, whom an 
inflammation in the eyes prevented from coming 
forth to meet her ; the baptism of Vladimir and 
his boyards took place not many days after, and 
was speedily followed by the marriage solemnities. 
The grand prince, in token of gratitude, restored 
Cherson to his imperial brother-in-law, and sent a 
large army to help him out of his difficulties. The 
only trophies which he kept for himself were four 
beautifully sculptured horses of bronze. Vladimir 
had no sooner returned to Kief than he caused all 
the images of the false gods to be collected and 
broken up, or burnt to ashes. That of Peroun 
was fastened to a horse's tail, dragged out of Kief, 
and thrown down a steep precipice into the 
Dnieper, whose waters wafted it to the Black Sea. 
The people, convinced of the helplessness of their 
idols, were easily persuaded to receive instruction 
from the Christian clergy. A solemn day was 
appointed for the baptism of the catechumens ; at 
a signal from their prince countless numbers 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



51 



hastened down the banks of the Dnieper, and 
plunged into its rapid stream ; mothers stood on 
the brink with infants in their arms ; the clergy 
then read with a loud voice the office for Holy 
Baptism, according to the rites of the Greek 
Church. When it was concluded, Vladimir stood 
forth, and raising his eyes to heaven, prayed thus, 
' Creator of heaven and earth, shed thy blessing on 
these thy newly- adopted children ; may they ac- 
knowledge Thee to be the only God, and be con- 
firmed by Thee in the one true faith ; grant to me 
also help against the temptations of the evil one, 
so will I ever bless thy holy name.' In that great 
day, says Nestor, heaven and earth 4 rejoiced, and 
were glad' together (988). 

" It is refreshing, after so many recitals of crime, 
to record the good deeds of Vladimir. He caused 
many copies of the Holy Scriptures to be written 
in the Cyrillian character, and sent missionary 
bishops and clergy, at his own expense, to preach 
the Gospel to the remotest bounds of his empire. 
His charities in Kief were boundless, and he daily 
fed a great number of the infirm and poor from his 
own table. He built two churches in that city, 
one on the place w T here the image of Peroun had 
e 2 



52 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



stood, the other on the spot where Ivan and 
Theodore had suffered martyrdom. He did not 
tyrannize over the consciences of his people, but 
sought to enlighten them by founding free schools 
for the instruction of the young. These schools 
were looked upon at first with dread and distrust, 
and many Russian mothers wept when told that 
their children were to learn writing, believing it to 
be a dangerous kind of magic. 

" The grand prince carried his newly-acquired 
virtue of clemency so far, that he abolished the 
punishment of death, and refused to chastise the 
insolence of certain lawless tribes who invaded his 
frontier. 4 Why dost thou not punish the guilty V 
asked some of the bishops, who were sent to re- 
monstrate with him on this ill-timed lenity. c I 
fear to offend God," was his reply. 6 Nay,' said his 
counsellors, 6 God hath placed thee on the throne 
to administer justice as well as mercy ; crime must 
be repressed, but with a discerning hand.'' We 
learn that the grand prince was wise enough to 
follow this wholesome advice. 

" It seemed like a retribution from above for the 
crimes of his youth, that Vladimir's last days were 
embittered by the ingratitude of several of his 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



53 



children. He died in 1015, after a short illness, 
and without naming a successor to the throne. 
He left twelve sons, and a nephew, Sviatopolk, the 
son of his murdered brother, whom, doubtless by- 
way of atonement, he had brought up with his own 
family. He always called him by the endearing name 
of son, yet in his heart he loved him not, and ever 
suspected some lurking treachery. No sooner were 
his eyes closed, than Sviatopolk called together the 
men of Kief, caused himself to be proclaimed grand 
prince, and distributed amongst them the contents 
of his uncle's treasury. But gold could not buy 
their affections ; these were bestowed already on 
Vladimir's two youngest sons, the Princes Boris 
and Glieb, now absent, with a part of the army, 
warring against the Tartars. Prince Boris was 
his father's darling, and loved him tenderly in 
return. He was tall and majestic in stature, with 
a sunny countenance, a smile of singular sweetness, 
and a voice and manner that won all hearts. Though 
very young, he had showed himself wise in council, 
as well as valiant in war. He was returning to 
Kief, with a small detachment of guards, when the 
news of his father's death reached him ; this was 
quickly followed by tidings of his cousin's treachery. 



54 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



' Prince,** said some of his generals, • the veteran 
soldiers of thy father are with thee ; arise, march 
to Kief, and claim the sovereignty of Russia ! , 
But the heart-stricken prince could not yet fully 
grasp the extent of SviatopohVs perfidy. 6 Dare I,' 
said he, 6 lift my hand against my eldest brother, 
against one whom I ought to look upon as the 
representative of my father?" This delicacy of 
feeling was not understood by his rough companions 
in arms, and many of them slunk away that evening 
to join the traitor. Meanwhile, messengers arrived 
from Sviatopolk with many protestations of his 
unshaken loyalty and affection ; these were closely 
followed by a band of assassins, who had bound 
themselves by an oath not to return to Kief without 
bringing the head of the devoted young prince. 
Under cover of darkness, the murderers stealthily 
drew near the tent of Boris ; he was saying aloud 
his evening prayer, and the sound of his voice 
melted even their hard hearts for a while. They 
paused to listen while the prince, with fervent 
devotion, recited some of the Psalms of David ; 
he then commended his soul to the Almighty, and 
ended by praying that the guilt of Sviatopolk 
might never be laid to his charge; he then lay 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



55 



down to sleep, and the murderers, recalling their 
deadly purpose, rushed in and pierced him with 
their lances. His faithful servant, George, a young 
Hungarian, whom he loved as a brother, threw 
himself on his body, and perished in attempting to 
shield it from their blows. (1015.) 

"An equally mournful fate awaited the gentle 
and pious young Prince Glieb. He was slain, while 
sailing down the Dnieper, and his last words (like 
those of Boris) were words of faith and prayer. 
So, to borrow the language of our own murdered 
king, the princely brothers 6 exchanged a temporal 
for an eternal, a corruptible for an incorruptible 
crown, in that place where no disturbance can 
arise." A blessed exchange, indeed ! " 

There was a pause. Kate's eyes were swimming 
in tears, Dora's sparkling with indignation. Eliot 
expressed a hope that the traitor did not long 
prosper in his iniquity. 

" He survived his crime but three years," re- 
plied Colonel Oakeley, "and they were spent in an 
unsuccessful and bloody struggle with his cousin 
Jaroslaf, the eldest surviving son of Vladimir. 
This prince possessed many noble qualities ; the 



56 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



one deep stain upon his character is his undutiful 
conduct towards his father ; and of this, it is said, 
he deeply repented in after life. He rallied round 
him the brave citizens of Novgorod, raised an army 
of 40,000 men, and went forth against Sviatopolk. 
The contending hosts came in sight of one another 
near Lubetsch on the Dnieper, but neither of them 
ventured to cross the river in sight of the foe, so 
they remained nearly inactive till winter set in. 
At length the men of Novgorod were roused by 
the taunts of one of SviatopohVs captains, who, 
alluding to a defect in Jaroslaf s gait, exclaimed, 
6 Where is your lame commander ? what has become 
of himV 6 To-morrow, ' they replied, 'he shall 
cross the river at our head, and he who turns back 
shall die. 1 This threat was quickly executed, for 
before daybreak, while Sviatopolk and his comrades 
were drinking deep, the forces of Jaroslaf crossed 
the Dnieper. They then let their boats drift 
away, resolved to conquer or die; they fastened 
their scarfs round their heads, and rushed upon the 
enemy. Sviatopolk defended himself bravely, but 
a reinforcement of guards, whom he had summoned 
to his aid, perished by the ice giving way under 



THE HISTOfiY OF RUSSIA. 



57 



them as they were crossing a frozen lake, and so 
the tide of success turned against him. He fled, 
and Jaroslaf entered Kief in triumph. 

" The struggle was not over vet. Sviatopolk 
took refuge with his father-in-law Boleslaus the 
Brave, King of Poland, and persuaded him to 
espouse his cause. The allied princes rapidly 
marched to the river Bug, and there established 
their camp, while Jaroslaf, suspecting no danger, 
was quietly engaged in rebuilding Kief, which an 
accidental fire had nearly reduced to ashes. The 
news of the invasion was brought to him while 
angling in the Dnieper ; he threw down his rod and 
line, exclaiming, 4 Farewell ease ! my country must 
be saved ! 1 He assembled his forces, and in a few 
days found himself face to face with Sviatopolk. 
As before, a river only separated these implacable 
foes, and, as before, the deadly struggle was brought 
on by a thoughtless taunt. It happened that the 
King of Poland was immensely heavy and unwieldy 
in figure ; one of Jaroslaf s captains was so un- 
courteous as to sneer at him, remarking to his 
comrades that their lances could scarcely fail to 
hit so broad a mark. The fiery king, incensed at 
their laughter, spurred his horse into the river, 



58 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



followed by all his troops. They fell upon Ja- 
roslaf s army, and put it to the rout. The grand 
prince retreated to Novgorod, there to wait for 
better times. Nor had he long to wait ; for Svia- 
topolk's own folly and wickedness hastened on 
his ruin. No sooner was he reinstated at Kief 
than he quarrelled with his father-in-law, and by 
breaking all the promises he had made in adversity, 
disgusted Boleslaus completely. His subjects 
hated him, and, at the first rumour of Jaroslaf s 
approach with a fresh army, they flocked to the 
standard of their rightful monarch. Sviatopolk 
quitted Kief, and took refuge with some wandering 
tribes, who hailed his presence as an excuse for 
plundering the outskirts of Russia ; but he was 
pursued by Jaroslaf, and overtaken on the very 
spot where Prince Boris had been murdered three 
years before. Overcome by this recollection, Ja- 
roslaf clasped his hands in silent prayer, then 
springing up, he exclaimed, ' My brother s innocent 
blood cries out for vengeance ! 1 They fought till 
sunset, when victory declared for the rightful cause, 
and Sviatopolk, wild with remorse and despair, was 
seen galloping away from the bloody field. Though 
faint with fatigue and hunger, he never drew rein 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



59 



till he had left the frontier of Eussia behind him. 
In Poland, he durst not show himself, so he hurried 
across its plains, and took refuge in Bohemia ; 
where he sculked about in obscurity till his death, 
which occurred not long 1 afterwards. 

Thus perished one to whom the annalists of 
his time have given the name of ' Sviatopolk the 
Miserable." (1019.) 

"The reign of Jaroslaf was long and brilliant. 
During its first fifteen years he was often obliged 
to take up arms against rebellious subjects and 
troublesome neighbours, but. by degrees, he sub- 
dued them all. He added the province of Eed 
Eussia to his dominions : he built several towns in 
various parts of the kingdom ; he greatly enlarged 
the city of Kief, surrounded it with a strong brick 
wall, and erected a principal gate, which, in imi- 
tation of Constantinople, he called the Golden 
Gate. He built a magnificent cathedral enriched 
with o-old. silver, seems, and mosaics, after the 

O 7 7 O ' ' 

manner of the Greeks ; and. like Justinian, he 
dedicated it to Saint Sophia, or 'the Eternal 
Wisdom. 1 Jaroslaf increased the number of the 
clergy, and devoted a large sum out of his own 
treasury to their maintenance ; he paid catechists 



60 



CONVEESATIONS OK 



to instruct the new converts to Christianity, and 
he sent to Constantinople for sacred musicians to 
teach the choristers of St. Sophia the art of 
chanting. At Novgorod he founded a college, 
the first known in Russia, where three hundred 
youths, sons of the nobles and clergy, received an 
education sufficient to qualify them for any em- 
ployment in Church or State. We are told of this 
accomplished prince, that the Holy Scriptures 
were his study day and night ; and that he wrote 
out several books of the Bible with his own hand, 
aud placed them in the church of St. Sophia, that 
the people might have free access to them. He 
drew up a code of good and useful laws, and he 
administered them himself, sitting in his own palace, 
and receiving rich and poor alike. While watching 
over his people at home, he was not forgetful of 
their interests abroad. Many Russian merchants 
lived at Constantinople, and carried on a thriving 
commerce with the Greeks. One clay a brawl 
arose in the streets of that city, and some Greeks 
attacked a Russian of some note, who had given 
them no cause of offence, and cruelly slew him 
(1043). The grand prince demanded satisfaction 
for this outrage, and not receiving any, dispatched 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



61 



a fleet, under the command of his eldest son, 
Prince Vladimir, to attack the Greek capital. 

u The emperor, Constantine Monomachus, sent 
to beg for peace, promising that the offenders 
should be speedily punished. Unhappily Vladimir, 
in his thirst for glory, would not listen to the 
advice of his orev-haired counsellors, but arrogantly 
rejected these proposals, and made ready for 
battle. The emperor gave orders that every Rus- 
sian in his dominions should be cast into prison ; 
and entering his imperial yacht he went forth to 
meet the foe. Three small vessels, laden with 
materials for the Greek fire, preceded his fleet, and 
did terrible execution in that of Vladimir. One of 
those violent storms from which the Black Sea 
derives its name sprang up suddenly, and many of 
the slightly-built Russian ships were driven on 
sandbanks, or wrecked upon the coast. The rash 
prince nearly lost his life, and was picked up. when 
drowning, by a little boat in which some of his 
officers were trying to reach the shore. Six thou- 
sand Russians, deprived of their vessels, had no 
resource left but that of fighting their way home 
by land ; and Vychata. the first boyard of the 
empire, nobly resolved to put himself at their head. 



62 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



4 1 cannot,' he said, when taking leave of Prince 
Vladimir on board his ship, \ I cannot desert those 
brave men who have no leader ; I will save them, 
or die with them.' 

" Vladimir, with the remains of his fleet, boldly- 
attacked the Greeks, killed their admiral, boarded 
and destroyed twenty-four vessels, and returned in 
triumph to Kief with many prisoners. 

" The noble-minded Vychata and his little band 
met with a far different fate. A fter toiling through 
Bulgaria, they were surrounded and captured by 
an overwhelming Greek force, near the river Varna. 
Most of them were killed on the spot ; and Vychata, 
with eight hundred of his men, was taken, loaded 
with irons, and carried to Constantinople, where 
the emperor barbarously ordered them to be 
blinded. This was the last expedition made by 
Russia against the Eastern empire ; a prophecy, 
then rife in Constantinople, that the Russians 
should one day make themselves masters of that 
capital, excited the utmost terror among its inha- 
bitants, but was not destined to be fulfilled at 
that time. Some people think that it is not un- 
likely to receive its accomplishment in our own 
day." 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



63 



u Papa.*' asked Dora, ; * did poor Vychata die in 
captivity 

" No, my love ; he was set free three years after, 
at the especial desire of the grand prince, when 
concluding a treaty of peace with the Emperor 
Constantine. and he and his blind companions 
returned together to Kief. 

; * Till this period. Russia had had little to do 
with the western nations of Europe ; we read of 
the prudent Olga sending an embassy to the 
Emperor of Germany, but it led to no results : nor 
had her successors any dealings, except with 
Greece. Jaroslaf. however, strengthened himself 
by forming alliances with several foreign princes. 
He gave his sister. Mary, a gentle and virtuous 
princess, to Casimir, King of Poland, grandson of 
the brave and unwieldv Boleslaus. His daughter. 

J O 7 

Anne, was sought in marriage by Henry L, King 
of France, after whose death, in 1060, she shared 
the government of that country with her son. 
Philip I., for many years, and died in high repute 
for piety and prudence. 

,; Jaroslaf *s second daughter, the Princess Anas- 
tasia. married Andrew L. Kino; of Hungary. Her 

J O CI J 

sister Elizabeth was remarkable for beauty ; she 



64 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



won the heart of Harold, a prince of Norway, who 
had left his native land to serve as a volunteer in 
Jaroslaf s army. Harold was a minstrel as well as 
a warrior, and has left a poem in sixteen cantos, 
each of which winds up with praises of his chieftain's 
daughter, and lamentations over her coldness and 
disdain. In order to win her affections, he enlisted 
under the banner of the eastern emperor, fought 
against the infidels in Africa, and made a pilgrimage 
to the Holy Sepulchre. After some years, he 
returned to Kief, and found the royal maiden pro- 
pitious to his suit. She shortly afterwards died ; 
a chronicler of the time tells us that her sorrowing 
husband left Russia, and made his way to Britain, 
where, twenty years later, he fell in the battle of 
Hastings, fighting in the ranks of his royal name- 
sake." 

Oh, that is curious !" exclaimed Eliot, "I do 
like, papa, to trace any connexion between Eussia 
and England in those old days." 

" I can tell you several facts of this kind," said 
Colonel Oakeley. " The two sons of our brave and 
unfortunate Edmund Ironside took refuge at the 
court of this grand prince, and were kindly enter- 
tained by him. One of Jaroslaf s sons, whose 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



65 



name I cannot discover, married Gyda, a daughter 
of our King Harold ; the Prince of Novgorod, as a 
Norwegian writer calls him, met with her at the 
court of Sweyn, King of Denmark, where Harold's 
mother and his three young children took refuge 
after his death. 

" The last years of Jaroslaf were tranquil and 
happy ; he ruled his people wisely, and they in 
return loved him as a father. All the time he could 
command was given to meditation and prayer ; he 
spent his leisure hours at a retired country-house 
called Berestof, and while attending the village 
church was struck with the excellence of the parish 
priest, a pious and learned man named Hilarion. 
He sought him out, and introduced him to the 
notice of the Russian bishops, by whom he was in 
course of time raised to the archbishopric of Kief. 

" And now the grand prince felt that his end was 
near, and calling his children around him, he gave 
them his last counsels. The sovereignty he be- 
queathed to Ysiaslav, his eldest surviving son, and 
to the younger ones he left large provinces, to be 
held as fiefs from their brother. 4 My children./ 
he said, 6 1 am on the point of leaving this world ; 
my parting entreaty to you all is, that you would 



66 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



not only live at peace together, but that you would 
love one another fervently. Know, that should 
divisions creep in amongst you, they will be the 
ruin of all ; the glory and prosperity of Russia will 
come to an end, and the toils of my royal ancestors, 
who fought and laboured for her welfare, will prove 
to have been in vain ! 1 

" Shortly after uttering these prophetic words, 
Jaroslaf died at the age of seventy (1054). With 
him expired the prosperity of his country. His- 
torians all unite in calling him 6 the Wise/ and his 
name shines like a bright star through the gloom 
of the three following centuries. A long train of 
disasters quickly followed his death, and Nestor 
assures us that they were announced by many 
fearful meteors and signs of Divine wrath. 4 The 
sun," he says, 'lost its brilliancy, and rose pale 
and rayless like the moon ; during a whole week a 
blood-red star hung on the western horizon ; the 
river of Volkof flowed back toward its fountain ; 
and some peasants, fishing in the Dnieper, were 
scared by finding a monster of hideous and un- 
natural appearance in their nets.*' All these pheno- 
mena may be explained by natural causes, but to 
the boding minds of the Russian people, no wonder 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



67 



they appeared harbingers of evil. * Heaven is 
just,' says Nestor, ' and will not hold us Russians 
guiltless for our many misdeeds. We fear not to 
call ourselves Christians, yet live the life of ido- 
lators. While crowds throng to the places of 
amusement, while trumpets, and harpings, and 
dancers are at our feasts, the churches are empty, 
and no sound of prayer or praise is heard there.' n 
The curfew had long ceased to toll, and nurse's 
warning voice was heard at the door, reminding 
Miss Dora of bed-time. She lingered a few 
moments near the spinning-wheel, to hear grand- 
mamma's description of the tomb of Jaroslaf the 
Wise, which she had visited many years before. 
" It is still to be seen, I believe," said Mrs. 
Oakeley, " in the church of St. Sophia at Kief, in 
a chantry to the left of the high altar ; it is of blue 
and white marble, adorned with sculptured figures 
of birds, trees, and flowers, mingled with crosses 
and the sacred initials I. 0. I have also seen a 
silver coin of Jaroslaf 's reign : on one side is 
engraved the figure of a warrior, with a crown on 
his head, and a breastplate visible between the 
folds of his mantle. He holds in his right hand a 
lance, and a shield in his left ; on the other side 



68 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



of the coin, the words, Money of Jaroslaf, are 
engraved in the Russian language. And now, my 
little Dora, good night ; nurse must not be kept 
waiting any longer." Dora instantly vanished ; 
but half an hour later, when Kate joined her up- 
stairs, she found her still recounting to the faithful 
and intelligent Martha the leading features of 
Colonel Oakeley's narrative : Prince Vladimir's 
crimes and conversion ; the martyrdom of Prince 
Boris and his gentle brother ; the untimely jests 
of the Russian warriors, atoned for by so much 
blood and carnage ; and, lastly, the omens 

ce Prophesying with accents terrible, 
Of dire combustion, and confused events, 
New hatched to the woful time." 

Macbeth. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



69 



CHAPTER IV. 

The descendants of Jaroslaf quarrel — Miserable state of Russia 
in the twelfth and following centuries — Sketch of the Russian 
Church — Her determined opposition to the Supremacy of Rome 
— Her customs and ceremonies — Her superstitious invocation 
of saints — Tartar invasion, 1223 — History of Genghis Khan ; 
his death, 1237 — Second invasion of Russia, 1237 — Destruction 
of Rezan — Vladimir — Kief, 1239 — Alexander Nevsky — His 
journey to the" Golden Horde 5 '— His death, 1263— The Grand 
Duke ; his virtues ; his tragical death, 1319 — First era of 
Russian History ended. 

" We shall pass lightly," said Colonel Oakeley, 
" over the next era of Russian history, as it is 
needless to burden your memories with a number 
of names and dates of no interest whatever. 
Jaroslaf, so wise in many respects, acted most 
imprudently in dividing his dominions amongst his 
sons. These selfish and ambitious princes soon 
found occasion to quarrel with one another ; and, 
while engaged in petty feuds, they fell an easy 
prey to foreign invaders. Their children trod in 
their steps, each generation becoming more dis- 



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united ; the grand princes of Kief sank into insig- 
nificance, and new states arose amongst them, — 
that of Kalisch on the borders of Poland ; the 
Grand Duchy of Vladimir, north-east of Moscow ; 
and the fierce and turbulent Republic of Novgorod. 
It is painful to read of the treacheries, murders, 
and broils in which the Russian princes were con- 
tinually involved : brothers dipping their hands in 
the blood of brothers, fathers dethroned by their 
children, and even the clergy sometimes using 
their great influence and superior knowledge for 
wicked purposes. Meanwhile the oppressed serfs 
could obtain no protection from their masters ; 
fields and homesteads were liable to be trodden 
down or plundered ; houses and barns to be burnt 
by the bands of marauders who roamed at large. 
Commerce, though slack, was not entirely at a 
stand still ; but it was mostly in the hands of 
foreigners, — Jews, Greeks, Venetians, and mer- 
chants from the Hanseatic League (a company of 
traders from eighty-five cities in the north of 
Germany), who resided at Kief, or in the Crimea. 
Such was the state of Russia when the Mongol 
Tartars, under Rati, grandson of the famous 
Genghis Khan, overran that country in 1238-40, 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



71 



committing the most frightful ravages. ' Well 
was it for Russia,' says the historian, 4 that it had 
previously embraced Christianity. During the ter- 
rible invasion which burst over it at the beffinninff 
of the thirteenth century, and which continued to 
oppress it for 200 years, nothing but the uniting 
power of the Church held that great empire from 
falling to pieces. The Archbishops of Kief, leav- 
ing its ruins, fixed their seat at Vladimir, and 
afterwards at Moscow ; and, in spite of Tartar 
oppression, and the feuds of the innumerable 
princes, the people that had but one Church felt 
themselves to be but one nation V 

44 Before proceeding further, it would be well to 
give you a short sketch of this venerable Church, 
at least of such of its features as bear upon our 
history ; in order to do so, I have carefully read 
and compared several writers on the subject." 

44 Oh, thank you, papa," said Eliot, who was a 
thoughtful boy, and liked to understand things 
thoroughly. 44 I suppose the Russian Church may 
be called a branch of the Eastern, may it not I " 

44 Certainly, and for several hundred years its 
chief Bishops were consecrated by the Patriarchs 
1 Neale's History. 



72 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



of Constantinople. It was not till the sixteenth 
century that Moscow claimed a Patriarch of its 
own, and ever since the Russian Church has been 
independent." 

" Then she never submitted to the See of Rome, 
papa?" asked Eliot. "Never," replied Colonel 
Oakeley. " Some years after the death of Jaroslaf 
the Wise, his son Ysiaslaf being in great straits, 
applied to Pope Gregory VII. for help, and begged 
his mediation in a quarrel with Poland. Gregory*^ 
reply is curious, as showing how haughty were the 
pretensions of the Roman Pontiffs at that time. 
He begins thus — c Gregory, Bishop, and servant 
of the servants of God, to the Prince of Russia 
and his wife, greeting, health and the Apostolic 
blessing. Your son, after visiting the holy places 
of Rome, has humbly besought us to re- instate 
him in his dominions, by the authority of St. 
Peter ; and has sworn fealty to the chief Apostle. 
We have at length complied with his wishes, and 
have entrusted to him the government of Russia, 
in the name of the great Apostle.^ These arrogant 
words ended in nothing ; and so did the attempts 
of several succeeding Popes to extend their suprer 
macy over Russia. 



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73 



" The Russian Church, unlike her more am- 
bitious sister, has never meddled with the disposal 
of crowns and sceptres ; nor has she been guilty, 
to any great extent, of persecuting those whose 
religious tenets differed from hers. She does not 
hold the unscriptural doctrine of Purgatory ; con- 
sequently, that most grievous abuse of the Church 
of Rome, the sale of indulgences for crimes future 
as well as past, is unknown within her pale. Her 
ancient Liturgy and services, though heavy and 
perplexing to strangers, are full of beauty ; they 
are in the old Sclavonic dialect, I believe, and have 
through many centuries retained their hold on the 
affections of the people : she allows to her children 
the free use of the Holy Scriptures. Her annals 
are rich in faithful martyrs, pious and learned 
bishops, and self-denying missionaries, whose suc- 
cessors, even to this day, pursue their labours on 
the shores of the Frozen Ocean, and in the far 
distant Aleutine Islands, on the north-west coast 
of America. She holds, as we do, every article of 
the Apostles 1 Creed ; and also, I believe, of the 
Athanasian and Nicene Creeds, with the excep- 
tion of a single clause respecting the Holy Spirit, 
which she words differently. In the Sacrament 
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of the Lord's Supper she follows the scriptural 
practice of administering the bread as well as 
the cup to every communicant ; as in all Eastern 
Churches, the wine is mixed with water. Her 
parochial clergy are allowed to marry, but they can 
never rise to the higher dignities of the Church, 
the bishops and c archimandrites'' (or abbots) 
being always chosen from the monks. It is to be 
feared that great abuses gradually crept into her mo- 
nasteries ; in earlier days they were peaceful retreats' 
from lawless violence, and blessings to the surround- 
ing poor ; their inmates practised medicine, sur- 
gery, and farming; catechised the young, and visited 
the sick. But we read that discipline grew slack in 
many of the Russian convents, and that they be- 
came abodes of ignorance and idleness ; though, of 
course, even in the worst times there were bright 
exceptions to this remark. The Russian Church 
teaches her members to pay superstitious homage 
to the Blessed Virgin and to departed saints ; 
with a strange inconsistency, she permits, nay 
enjoins them to invoke pictures and relics, while 
she utterly condemns the same homage when paid 
to solid images or statues. She observes four 
great fasts every year, namely, Lent, a fast in 



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75 



June, one in August, and a fourth which extends 
through the season that we call Advent. Of her 
ceremonies, which remain almost unchanged from 
the earliest times, I need only say that they re- 
mind one strongly of her Eastern origin, being 
accompanied with many gestures and prostrations 
which are startling to a European eye. For the 
correctness of the following descriptions, gleaned 
from several authors, your grandmamma will vouch. 
4 The genuine Russian is a most interesting subject 
for study ; but no where more so than in church. 
There you find him on his knees repeating his 
prayers after the priest, with a fluency which 
nothing can arrest, and a devotion which nothing 
can distract. Pass him, jostle him as you may, he 
is too deeply engaged to take the least notice of 
you. Only let the stranger take off his hat on 
entering, and he is no more regarded than one 
of the pillars : he disturbs nobody. Most of the 
worshippers have their knees bent to the naked 
floor ; at certain words all strike their foreheads 
on the earth, uttering responses at the same time ; 
and this again and again till the service is finished. 
The Russian churches are mostly cross-shaped, 
with a large dome in the middle, and smaller ones 
at the four ends, which give them a very Oriental 



76 CONVERSATIONS ON 

appearance. Still more Eastern-looking are the 
cathedrals : vast buildings, with an immense num- 
ber of domes and cupolas, many of them gilded. 




BISHOP OF THE GREEK CHURCH, 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



77 



Within there are neither pews nor galleries, not a 
chair or bench of any kind ; all, from the emperor 
down to the beggar, kneel or stand through the 
service. The clergy, in strong array, stand on a 
raised step or two ; they have long beards flowing 
over their robes of embroidered crimson, and lofty 
black hats that add to the dignity of their stately 
forms. Their deep rich voices make the vaults 
ring as they chant the prayers, aided by a band of 
choristers.'' " 

44 No instrumental music has ever been allowed 
in Russian churches, " observed Mrs. Oakeley ; 
44 but vocal sacred music is still cultivated with 
as much care as in the days of Jaroslaf the 
Wise. Their church bells are singularly sweet 
and rich in sound, and are very dear to the hearts 
of the peasantry, indeed to all classes. Princesses 
will give their gold and jewels, and serfs contribute 
their last copper coin, towards recasting them, or 
increasing their number. 

44 1 have repeatedly witnessed a striking scene 
on the night preceding Easter Sunday," added 
Mrs. Oakeley. 44 Crowds with tapers in their 
hands throng the churches ; and as midnight 
strikes, the tapers are all lighted, the bells strike 

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up a glorious peal, and nothing is heard on all 
sides but the joyful salutation, 6 Christ is risen ; ? 
and the thrilling reply, c He is risen ! He is risen, 
indeed.'' But I must not linger on these recollec- 
tions ; one very curious and ancient custom I 
may mention, as it seems to date back to the con- 
version of Russia, and to have taken the place of 
the Sclavonian worship of streams and fountains. 
I allude to the blessing of the waters, as it is 
called : once a year the clergy and people walk in 
procession to the nearest river or lake ; the clergy 
repeat a form of prayer, invoking the Divine 
blessing on the waters ; they then sprinkle the 
people with them, and bid them return to their 
homes, where the rest of the day is passed in 
feasting and merriment." 

u It is customary," said Colonel Oakeley, " for 
the Russian clergy to visit sick persons, anointing 
them with oil in the manner described by St. 
James (chapter v., verses 14, 15), and offering 
prayers for their recovery. This, you will observe, 
is quite distinct from the extreme unction adminis- 
tered by Roman Catholic priests to the dying. 
The funeral service in Russia is very striking and 
affecting, and I shall never forget the feelings with 



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79 



which I once witnessed it, though at the time a 
mere boy. The coffin was placed in the church, 
unclosed ; psalms were chanted, and portions of 
scripture read. I find from Mr. Neale's Church 
History, that the Epistle consisted of those solemn 
words of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, in which 
he bids them not sorrow as men without hope for 
those who sleep in Jesus. The Gospel was taken 
from St. John, chapter v., verses 24, &c, in which 
our Lord Himself assures us that 4 all that are in 
the graves shall hear His voice, and come forth. 1 
The parents, brothers, and sisters of the deceased 
then came forward, and kissed the corpse, which 
was that of a young girl ; the anguish depicted in 
the mother's face and gestures, I shall not easily 
forget. The following are some of the words 
chanted over the coffin — 1 Come hither, all ye that 
sorrow for me. and kiss me with the last kiss ; for 
I shall no longer walk with you, nor talk to you 
again ; for I go to the Judge, with whom is no 
respect of persons : serf and lord stand together 
before Him ; king and warrior, rich and poor, in 
one estimation ; for each, from his own works, 
shall either be glorified or put to shame V 

2 Neale's Church History, vol. ii. p. 1046. 

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" Thus ends our slight outline of the Eussian 
Church ; in the beautiful words of a prelate of our 
own, 4 May the good Lord fill it with truth and 
grace : where it is corrupt, purify it ; where it is in 
error, direct it ; where it is amiss, reform it ; where 
it is right, strengthen and confirm it. Amen. 1 

" We now return to the darkest page of Russian 
history. c In Chinese Tartary," says Karamsin, 
6 surrounded by deserts unknown to the Greeks and 
Romans, wandered a horde of Mongol Tartars. 
This wild people knew no occupation except hunt- 
ing, tending their herds and flocks, and plundering 
their neighbours. They had hitherto paid tribute 
to a superior tribe settled on the northern boun- 
dary of China ; but early in the thirteenth century 
they became powerful enough to think of shaking 
off the yoke. Their khan, or chief, Bayadour, 
died in the flower of his age, leaving a son only 
thirteen years old to succeed him. This youth, 
thus early called to be the head of forty thousand 
families, was destined not many years later to 
astonish the world by his daring, to overturn 
civilized kingdoms, and subdue millions of men to 
his sway." A portion of his tribe, disdaining to 
be governed by a mere child, tried to set up 



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81 



another leader ; but the youthful khan attacked 
and subdued them, and put seventy of their num- 
ber to a cruel death. He declared himself an 
independent prince, and sent messengers to all 
the other khans, inviting them to a conference. 
They met him at the appointed place, on the banks 
of a rapid river ; he dipped a cup in its cold 
wave, solemnly drank of it, and pledged himself 
to share with his brothers in arms the sweet and 
the bitter draughts of prosperity or ill-fortune. 
One refractory khan ventured to unsheathe his 
sword against this new Attila ; he was beheaded, 
and his skull, set in silver, was kept as a perpetual 
monument of his conqueror's vengeance. The 
countless hosts of the Mongols lay encamped 
round the springs of the river Amoor, divided into 
nine bands, each known by the different colours of 
their tents. While they waited the commands of 
their new leader, an aged hermit (whether fanatic 
or impostor I know not) entered the camp, and 
sought the chieftain's tent. 6 Behold,' he ex- 
claimed, 6 he to whom the whole world shall bow ! 
Heaven wills it so. Henceforward let him be 
called Genghis Khan, or the Great Chief!' 

" The first victories of this wonderful man were 

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achieved in Thibet and China. In 1215 he passed 
the Great Wall with a vast army, and took and 
burnt the city of Pekin. During thirty days the 
imperial palace continued to blaze ; the emperor 
himself had to bear this bitter taunt from his 
victor, c Thy predecessors claimed the title of 
celestial, but thou hast proved thyself a mere 
man V 

66 1223. And now, in evil hour for Russia, 
Genghis Khan turned his arms westward, driving 
the terrified inhabitants of the ravaged countries 
before him. His armies advanced to Bokhara, 
then to the sea of Azov. A number of trembling 
refugees fled to Kief, carrying with them their 
wives and children. 4 The barbarians,'' they said, 
' have seized upon our country ; to-morrow they will 
seize upon yours.*' The people of Kief were at first 
paralysed by fear ; however, they roused themselves, 
collected an army, and went forth to meet the foe, 
headed by Daniel, the valiant young Prince of 
Kalisch. They fought gallantly ; but what hope 
of success was there against a merciless enemy, as 
numerous as the sands on the sea-shore ? Daniel 
was forced to retreat after a fearful carnage, and 
the Tartars laid waste the whole country as far as 



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83 



the Dnieper. The Golden Gate and sparkling domes 
of Kief were before them, when suddenly they 
received a summons from Genghis Khan to come 
to his assistance in Bokhara. So quickly was the 
summons obeyed, that in a few days not a Tartar 
was to be found in Russia. You may imagine 
the joy with which the men of Kief hailed this 
reprieve ; but, alas ! their own insane wickedness 
soon brought worse evils upon them. We are 
told that they plunged once more into the miseries 
of civil war; that murders were things of daily 
occurrence in their streets ; that the highways and 
market-places were deserted by honest men, while 
gangs of ruffians paraded them, plundering and 
setting fire to the houses. ' At the sight of so much 
crime/ says a chronicler of that day, 'the angels 
grew sad, and veiled their faces with their wings. 
Heaven itself decreed that such iniquities should 
no longer go unpunished.' He then tells us of the 
calamities that crowded upon Russia. A violent 
earthquake was felt throughout the whole land, but 
especially towards the south, where it shattered 
several churches. In September, 1229, a prema- 
ture frost destroyed the crops, and the price of 
grain became ruinous. A measure of rye was sold 



84 CONVERSATIONS ON 

in Novgorod for five grivnas, or twenty-four shillings 
of our money ; and wheat and barley were double 
that price. In spite of their boasted riches, the 
inhabitants of that proud Republic were reduced 
to starvation ; they could procure no food, except 
moss, acorns, fir-cones, the bark of trees, and such 
carrion as they could collect. Famine, as usual, 
was followed by pestilence, and in a few months 
forty-two thousand persons perished. Their bishop, 
Spiridion, a good and holy man, did all in his power 
to mitigate the sufferings of the living, and procure 
Christian burial for the dead. His charitable deeds 
shone with double lustre at a time when we are 
told ' all feelings of pity seemed extinguished in 
men's breasts ; mothers flung away their babes, 
and none could be found to spare a morsel of food 
to his perishing neighbour." 1 This famine extended 
through the whole of Russia, except the province 
of Kief. 

" For ten years after the death of Genghis 
Khan, in 1227, the Tartars were engrossed by 
wars with China ; but in 1237 they burst like a 
deluge upon Russia, led by Bati Khan, his grand- 
son. Open the atlas, dear Kate, and we will 
trace their course. They first laid siege to Rezan, 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



85 



capital of the Duchy of that name. Its young 
Prince Theodore fell into Batfs hands, and was 
led prisoner before him. Bati spoke him fair, and 
said that he had heard much of the beauty of his 
wife, the Princess Euphrasia, and desired greatly 
to see her. Theodore proudly answered that it 
was not the custom of Christian husbands to permit 
their wives to be seen by unbelievers. These rash 
words cost him his life ; for the enraged Khan 
ordered his head to be struck off instantly 

" And what became of the poor princess, papa V 
asked Dora. 

" I will tell you her tragical fate in the poetical 
words of the historian," replied Colonel Oakeley. 
" 'Several days after, Euphrasia went up to the 
highest chamber of the palace to watch for her 
husband's return ; there, standing with her infant 
in her arms, she gazed out for him, — the loving and 
beloved ! Just then tidings of his murder were 
brought to her, and in her distraction she threw 
herself from the upper window and perished with 
her child.' The spot where she fell is still pointed 
out to travellers. 

" Eezan was taken and burnt, and Moscow 
shared the same fate. In 1238, Bati laid siege to 



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Vladimir in the absence of its Grand Duke George, 
who was at some miles distance with his army. His 
wife, the Duchess Agatha, his young daughter, and 
his two sons, with their children, were all assembled 
in the devoted city. They watched the enemy 
erecting palisades, and bringing their scaling- 
ladders and battering-rams close to the walls ; 
they knew that resistance was vain ; but they also 
knew that death and slavery were the only alterna- 
tives, and so they prepared to die. On Sunday, 
February 7, the attack begun ; Bati's troops beat 
down the golden and brazen gates, and swarmed 
in countless numbers into the city. The two 
princes fell bravely fighting, and their mother the 
Duchess Agatha, with her children and a number 
of clergy and nobles, took refuge within the 
cathedral. It was speedily surrounded, and set 
on fire by the savage foe. Even in that dark hour 
Christian faith triumphed over mortal anguish ! 
Clinging to one another and to their venerable 
bishop, Metrophanius, the victims awaited death ; 
when the flames rose high, and clouds of stifling 
smoke burst in, the bishop exclaimed in a loud voice, 
6 Now, Lord, stretch forth Thine invisible arm, 
and let thy servants depart in peace V He then 



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87 



pronounced a solemn blessing on all present, and 
commended their souls, with his own, to God. So 
they fell ; and the heavy tidings were carried to the 
grand duke as he was leading his troops along the 
banks of the river Sita. Tears dropped from his 
eyes, and he prayed aloud that God, who had 
visited him with the afflictions of J ob, would grant 
him the like patience to bear them. A few days 
after, he was killed in a battle with the Tartars. 

a 1239. Bati next ravaged the south of Russia, 
and destroyed the city of Pereslav, that earthly 
paradise where you may remember that Sviatoslaf 
the Great forgot alike his duty to his mother and 
to his country. Tchernigof met with a like fate ; 
and now the invincible Bati fixed his longing eyes 
on Kief, and sent his kinsman Mangou, a grand- 
son of Genghis Khan, to reconnoitre its position. 
When Mangou reached the eastern bank of the 
Dnieper he paused, entranced with the exquisite 
beauty of the view that lay before him. The 
majestic river, the palaces rising one above 
another on its steep banks, the glittering domes of 
churches, the thick foliage of groves and gardens 
which surrounded the city, the frowning towers 



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that guarded it, all these objects struck Mangou 
with astonishment. 

" He durst not cross the river with his small 
retinue, but he sent messengers to exhort the men 
of Kief to surrender. They sternly replied, by the 
mouth of their chief boyard, Demetrius, that death 
was better than slavery ; and with this answer the 
khan returned to head-quarters. 

" And now, Bati and his army burst upon Kief 
like a whirlwind. Her citizens were deafened 
by the roll of their countless chariots, the bel- 
lowing of oxen and camels, the neighing of horses, 
the hoarse roar of a hundred thousand voices. 
The assault was not delayed an hour; hosts 
of Tartars battered down and rushed through 
every gate, carrying long lances armed with iron 
crooks, and bucklers of twisted willow branches ; 
others, from a greater distance, discharged flights 
of arrows into the town. The Russians fought like 
desperate men, and few survived the ruin of their 
city. Kief, 4 the mother of cities," as her founder 
had fondly called her, was laid low, her palaces 
and monuments destroyed, her churches despoiled, 
the coffins of Olga and Vladimir broken open, and 



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89 



their dust dispersed to the winds. Nothing of her 
ancient glory remains to this day. except a part of 
the Church of the Eternal Wisdom, and the 
marble tomb of Jaroslaf the Wise. 

" I spare you the sickening detail of Bati's 
cruelties ; one solitary deed of mercy relieves its 
blackness, and must not be forgotten. When the 
noble boyard Demetrius was brought into his pre- 
sence. Bati looked stedfastly upon him, and said, 
with a haughty smile, 1 I grant thee thy life.' He. 
however, kept him in close captivity near his own 
person." 

Dora drew a long sigh. " And Novgorod, papa." 
she asked. " did those dreadful Tartars destroy 
it too?" 

" No. my love."" said Colonel Oakeley ; "Novgorod 
was happily spared the miseries of invasion. She 
owed her safety, under Providence, to Alexander 
Nevsky. a prince of the family of Euric, whom she 
had wisely chosen to preside over her councils in 
these distracted times. ' He was gifted,' says the 
annalist, - with great wisdom and valour, majestic 
beauty, and the vigorous arm of a Samson. His 
countenance attracted love and respect, his thrilling 
voice sounded like a clarion in the public assemblies." 



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He obtained early fame by his victories over the 
Swedes ; one especially, gained on the banks of the 
Neva, from which he received the surname of 
Nevsky. He next drove back the Teutonic Knights, 
a turbulent order of men, who, on their return from 
the Crusades, settled with their Grand Master in 
Livonia, and soon became troublesome and dan- 
gerous neighbours. In 1247, Alexander received 
the following message from Bati Khan, 6 Prince of 
Novgorod, knowest thou that God hath given many 
nations into our hands I Shalt thou only defy our 
power? If thou wouldst save thy country from 
ruin, haste thee to my tent, and bow before the 
might and glory of the Mongols P 

" Humbling as this summons was, Alexander 
saw the need of complying with it. He repaired 
to Bati's camp, and was received there with great 
honours. But Bati had no power to conclude a 
treaty; and the prince, accompanied by his brother, 
was obliged to proceed to the court of the supreme 
khan himself, in the wilds of Chinese Tartary. 
The expedition was as perilous as it was mournful ; 
week after week they travelled on through bound- 
less deserts, exposed to heat by day, and frost by 
night, often with nothing to mark their track but 



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91 



the whitening bones of wayfarers who had perished. 
They passed Lake Baikal, and drew near the 
Great Wall of China. At length they reached 
the 4 Tent of the Golden Horde,' a magnificent 
pavilion, reared on golden pillars, where the supreme 
khan held his state. Nothing could exceed the 
barbaric splendour of this chief. Hundreds of 
captive princes and of ambassadors from conquered 
provinces swelled his train. No one might approach 
him empty-handed, so that the treasures he pos- 
sessed almost surpass belief. He never appeared 
without a band of minstrels, who chanted his ex- 
ploits in unison. None dared speak to him except 
kneeling ; not even his great officers, who were 
distinguished from others by massive tablets of 
engraved gold hung round their necks. Hunting 
and feasting occupied much of his time, and it was 
not till after the lapse of many months that Alex- 
ander could obtain from him satisfactory terms, 
and return to his trembling subjects at home. 

" This good prince died in the year 1263, deeply 
lamented. According to the superstitious custom 
of his time he assumed the dress of a monk a few 
days before his death. His name is enrolled in 



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the calendar of Russian saints. During the whole 
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Russia 
groaned under Tartar oppression, and paid tribute 
not only to the supreme khan, but to the de- 
scendants of Bati, who set up a kingdom of their 
own under the uncouth name of khans of Kapchak ! 

" One cannot picture to one's self a greater depth 
of misery than Russia had now arrived at, torn by 
internal quarrels, scourged by frequent pestilences 
and famines, and completely at the mercy of cruel 
barbarians." 

" Papa," said Eliot, " it reminds me of those 
lines of Shakespeare I learned by heart the other 
day, 

' Alas, poor country ! 
Almost afraid to know itself ! It cannot 
Be called our mother, but our grave, where nothing, 
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile. 
Where sighs, and groans, and shrieks that rend the air 
Are made, not mark'd ; where violent sorrow seems 
A modern ecstasy ; the dead man's knell 
Is there scarce ask'd for whom ; and good men's lives 
Expire before the flowers in their caps 
Dying or ere they sicken.' " 

" Those lines are very appropriate," replied 



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98 



Colonel Oakeley, "and I am glad you remember 
them so well.' 1 

"How sad it is. papa." said Kate, " to read of 
so much wickedness and misery ! " 

" Yes. darling, it is very sad ; but there is com- 
fort in knowing that the overruling hand of God 
was there to make the gloomiest events work toge- 
ther for the good of His children. Many sinners 
were doubtless brought to repentance by these 
calamities, many saints were 4 purified and made 
white, and tried. ' 

" In Russia's darkest night. 4 stars were scattered 
pure and high.* faithful and holy Christians were 
found, who loved not their lives to the death. 
None, perhaps, shone with purer lustre than the 
Grand Duke Michael of Novgorod, with whose 
eventful story I will close this first era of Russian 
history. 

" He became Lord of Vladimir, Novgorod, and 
Tver in 1304; but his claim was disputed by his 
nephew, George of Moscow, a cruel and crafty 
prince. It was quite clear that Michael was in the 
right ; and all the boyards, and even George's own 
brothers, did him homage ; yet George would not 
forego his claim. In vain did Michael, who was a 



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lover of peace, offer to divide the power with him ; 
he would not be satisfied with less than the whole ; 
and after some years, during which Michael made 
himself universally beloved, George fled to the court 
of the great khan, and there laid heavy complaints 
against his uncle. The khan, a young and in- 
experienced prince, (afterwards famous under the 
name of Usbeck,) listened favourably to George, 
and promised to do all that he wished. Nay, so 
completely did this bad man gain his ear, that 
Usbeck gave him his favourite sister in marriage. 
George returned to Moscow at the head of a 
Tartar army, and laid waste Michael's dominions. 
Michael called together his boyards and clergy, 
and spoke to them thus, ' Judge ye between me 
and my nephew ! Is not mine the rightful cause ? 
Yet, for the love of peace, I offered him half my 
power. Not satisfied with this, he seeks my life, 
and ravages with fire and sword the heritage of 
my fathers ! My conscience does not reproach me 
in this matter ; yet would I appeal to you, and sub- 
mit to your decision. Tell me, frankly and truly, 
have I given my enemy any just cause of com- 
plaint V 

" His counsellors replied with one voice ; ' Prince, 



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you are innocent in the sight of the Most High 
take np the sword of justice, boldly relying on His 
protection ; we. your faithful servants, are ready 
to shed our blood for the best of princes.' 

" 4 The Lord be my helper/ said the grand duke. 
Thus encouraged, he advanced against George, 
fought and conquered. George's Tartar bride and 
many other prisoners fell into his hands ; but he 
would not let his soldiers hurt a hair of their heads, 
and sent them all home without ransom. Un- 
happily, the Tartar princess died soon after, and 
her crafty husband repaired to the great khan, 
and succeeded in making him believe that Michael 
had caused her to be poisoned. Michael, whose 
soul revolted at such a suspicion, did not hesitate 
to obey the mandate of the khan, and hastened to 
his camp. He was the more eager to do so. as 
his youngest son was already there as a hostage, 
and he feared for the safety of the defenceless 
child. His wife and elder sons escorted him to 
the frontiers of Tartary. and in the anguish of 
parting besought him to pause before he trusted 
himself in the hands of infidels. His eldest son 
begged to be allowed to go in his stead. 6 No, 7 
replied Michael, ' it is not for you, but for me, that 



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Usbeck asks. Do you not see that if I provoke 
his wrath, thousands of my Christian subjects will 
suffer for it I Oh, my beloved ones, were it not 
better for me to die, if, by so doing, I may secure 
the lives of my faithful people V He then made his 
will, charged his children never to forsake the 
paths of uprightness, and bade them a last fare- 
well. 

" During six weeks Michael remained unmolested 
at the court of Usbeck. He was beginning to 
hope that all would be well, when, as a thunder- 
clap, came his summons to be tried. He was led 
to the judgment-seat with his hands tied behind 
him, and was straightway accused of having poisoned 
the khan's sister. 4 It is a hateful falsehood,' he 
exclaimed ; c and I call the God of the Christians to 
witness, that never did the unhallowed thought 
pollute my mind ! ■ 

" But his defence was not listened to. At the 
instigation of George they loaded him with irons, 
and led him to a dungeon; the faithful boyards 
who had shared his fortunes were denied access to 
him ; his royal garments were taken off, and a 
heavy wooden halter fastened round his neck. 
The hunting season was beginning, and as Usbeck 



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had not yet pronounced his doom, the grand prince 
was dragged after him from place to place for 
more than two months. The camp was one scene 
of revelry and riot, several hundred thousand people 
being assembled there, besides foreign merchants 
laden with the gems, spices, and damasked silks 
of the East. 

" Manfully did Michael bear his woful lot ; he 
several times received the Holy Communion from 
one of the three faithful chaplains who accom- 
panied him. All day long he appeared unmoved 
and serene ; but in the night he wept and prayed 
earnestly, and sought comfort in reciting the 
psalms of David, a little page turning over the 
leaves of the Prayer Book for him, because his 
hands were tied ! 

" The boyards obtained leave to have a parting 
interview with him ; seeing their grief, he said, 
4 Remember, my friends, the many days when 
we dwelt happily together, and when I was your 
mirror of delight. Have we received so much good 
at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive 
evil I Do not weep at the sight of this piece of 
wood ; it will not long trouble me.' His cruel 
nephew T caused him to be led into the market-place, 

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where throngs of curious gazers came round to 
look at him ; he heard some of them whispering 
together, ' This captive was once a great prince in 
his own land," and for a moment his soul was 
shaken ; he turned away weeping, and said in a 
low voice—' All they that see me, shake their 
heads at me ; but my trust is in Thee, Lord P 

66 The faithful boyards arranged a plan for saving 
his life at the imminent risk of their own, and even 
procured relays of horses to carry him back to 
Russia ; but he withstood the temptation. 4 No- 
thing should induce him,' he said, 6 to expose his 
people to the miseries of war, and his own unsullied 
name to the reproach of cowardice.' At length 
the day of his death arrived ; he had secured for 
his boyards, and for his little son, a true and 
compassionate protectress in the person of Queen 
Bayalene, the wife of Usbeck. He therefore bade 
the child farewell with a comparatively light heart, 
and taking the Psalter from his chaplain's hand 
opened it at random. A tremor came over him as 
he read these words, ' My heart is disquieted 
within me, and the fear of death hath fallen upon 
me. 1 But his chaplain glanced down the page, 
and said, quickly, 4 Prince, it is written a little 



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further on. Cast thy burden on the Lord, and He 
shall sustain thee." You know these words well.' 
• True,' replied the grand duke, with a beaming 
countenance. ' for the wings of the dove, 
that I may flee to Him and be at rest !" His 
nephew now entered the tent with a band of 
executioners, under the command of an officer of 
the khan. They fell upon Michael; and. after 
cruelly torturing, they dispatched him. calling 
upon God to his last breath. 

"His remains were rescued by the faithful 
boyarcls. and conveyed with much lamentation 
back to Eussia. He was laid in a church within 
the walls of the Kremlin, at Moscow ; and the 
surname of 5 Lover of his country* was bestowed 
upon him by his sorrowing people." 




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CHAPTER V. 

Great pestilence, 1349 — The Grand Prince Demetrius, 1363 — 
His noble character — Rebuilds the Kremlin about 1370 — Rise 
of Tamerlane, 1370 — Tartar invasion under Mamai — Battle 
of the Don, 1378 — Conversion of the Permians to Christianity 
about 1380— Moscow taken by the Tartars, 1382— Death of 
Demetrius, 1389 — Grief of Eudoxia — Accession of Basil, 1389. 
—Conquests of Tamerlane — He enters Russia, 1395 — Death of 
Vladimir the Brave, 1410— Death of Basil, 1425— Basil the 
Blind succeeds him — Council of Florence, 1439— Basil taken 
prisoner by the Tartars, 1445 ; liberated ; blinded, 1446 — Con- 
stantinople taken, 1453 — Rise of the Cossacks. 

"Papa" said Dora, seating herself on her father's 
knee, " I am very anxious to know whether that 
cruel, wicked George became grand prince in the 
room of the good Michael ?" 

" He did not," replied Colonel Oakeley ; " George 
very shortly afterwards reaped the reward of his 
iniquity ; one crime, as is often the case, led on to 
another ; and Demetrius, Michael's eldest son, 
meeting George at the khan's court, drew out his 
dagger and pierced the murderer to the heart. 
He, in his turn, was tried and condemned to death 



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101 



by the khan. After much bloodshed and confu- 
sion, the dignity of grand prince (if dignity it 
could be called, when held on such terms) was 
conferred on Ivan I., a younger brother of 
George. This prince established himself at Mos- 
cow, which henceforth became the centre and 
capital of Russia. By basely cringing to the 
khans of Kapchak, he and his successors, Simeon 
the Proud and Ivan II., contrived to crush the 
other petty states of Russia, and to build up their 
own greatness on the ruins of their neighbours'. 
Meanwhile, great changes were taking place 
among the Tartar tribes : many of them had ex- 
changed their idolatries, and the worship of the 
sun, moon, and fire, for the creed of Mahomet ; 
others had become Christians ; and those who 
were indifferent to all religion, found it their best 
policy to keep on good terms with the Russian 
clergy, and through them to win the affections of 
the people. They exempted the clergy from pay- 
ing taxes, and allowed a Christian bishop to reside 
at Saray 1 , their capital. By degrees they lost 
their warlike daring, and the thirst for conquest 
gave way to the thirst for riches, a passion which 
1 A town built by Bati Khan, near the Volga. 



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the artful princes of Moscow did their utmost to 
gratify. The Golden Horde was weakened by 
bloody quarrels between its chiefs ; and. to hasten 
its decline, a pestilence which broke out in China, 
1 346, soon extended to Tartary, and made fright- 
ful ravages amongst the Mongols. The 6 black 
death," as it was called, first showed itself in 
Russia about Palm-Sunday of the year 1349, and 
raged till the approach of winter. It continued 
its baleful course throughout Europe, and was 
conveyed by some trading vessels into England. 
It vanished for a time from Russia, but only to 
re-appear in 1384, destroying two-thirds of the 
inhabitants of Novgorod, and attacking ninety out 
of every hundred persons at Moscow." 

"The poor Russians!" exclaimed Eliot, "how 
I do pity them ! But, papa, it is quite impossible 
to take any interest in those cringing, fawning 
grand princes, is it not?" 

" They do not enlist one's sympathies, certainly," 
replied Colonel Oakeley ; " but I think some little 
excuse may be made for them ; we can scarcely 
wonder that they should purchase peace with the 
khans at any price, when we reflect what frightful 
scourges the Tartar invasions were. We are now 



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103 



about to enter on the history of a prince whom 
you will both love and admire, the noble-minded 
Demetrius Ivanovitch. He was, as the latter 
name signifies, the son of Ivan II., and succeeded 
his father, when quite a stripling, in 1363. No 
time had he for repose, or for the pastimes of 
youth. Bloody wars with Poland, and with the 
Livonian Knights, occupied the first fifteen years 
of his reign, and a gallant attempt which he made 
in 137S to throw off the hated Tartar yoke drew 
upon him their fiercest enmity. They advanced 
towards the Volga under their General Mamai, 
and for the first time for 150 years met with a 
sturdy resistance from the Russians. Demetrius 
drove them back, and returned in triumph to 
Moscow, exclaiming. 4 Their day is past, and God 
is on our side ! 1 Nothing was heard of Mamai 
for upwards of two years ; but he had not forgotten 
his defeat, and was brooding over the means of 
revenge. He strengthened his army with rein- 
forcements from the remotest tribes ; he made a 
league with Iagellon, prince of Poland, a sworn 
foe of Russia ; and, more fatal than all, he found 
an ally in Demetrius's own court and camp, the 
perfidious Oleg, lord of Eezan. This second Ahi- 
thophel was a man of advanced years, renowned for 
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prudent counsel and for eloquence. He was a 
chief adviser of the grand prince, whose frank and 
noble spirit suspected no guile, and who never 
dreamed that Oleg had for years been plotting 
how to supplant him. Oleg wrote to Mamai, 
urging him to lead his forces to the river Oka 2 
not later than September, and promising his sup- 
port, on condition that Mamai should place him on 
the throne of Moscow, as chief vassal of the 
Golden Horde. To Demetrius the traitor wrote 
as follows : ' Mamai is about to burst on the pro- 
vince of Rezan ; he is advancing against you and 
me ; the ruthless Iagellon is with him ; but they 
shall feel the power of our arms : be of good cou- 
rage, and play the man/ On receiving this letter, 
the first impulse of the grand prince was to ad- 
journ to the Cathedral of Moscow ; like Hezekiah, 
he 6 spread his letter before the face of the Lord," 1 
and found strength in so doing. He next sent 
couriers to all his faithful boyards, to bid them 
organize troops, and lead them to the capital. 
The call was responded to without delay, and each 
evening saw fresh thousands crossing the plains, 
and pouring into the far-famed Kremlin." 

2 The Oka falls into the Volga near Nizne Novgorod. 



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107 



"What does the word kremlin mean, papa?" 
asked Kate. 

" It is derived from 4 kreml," which in the Tartar 
language means fortress," said Colonel Oakeley. 
u In several ancient Russian towns may be seen 
the remains of kremlins, old, grey, crumbling 
citadels, vestiges of Mongol oppression. That of 
Moscow stands in the heart of the city, and con- 
tains the emperor's palace, several churches, 
monasteries, and public buildings ; it was en- 
closed by a triple stone wall, with towers and a 
deep ditch. The original Kremlin was built of 
wood, but was destroyed by a tremendous fire 
early in the reign of Demetrius. He rebuilt it in 
stone, and his wife, the gentle and good Princess 
Eudoxia, spent much of her substance in beauti- 
fying it, and in founding within its walls a refuge 
for destitute young girls. The old Russian spirit, 
crushed but not extinguished by long thraldom, 
now burst nobly forth ; nothing was to be seen 
but the flash of lances, and the glittering of 
polished helmets ; the citizens, one and all, flew to 
arms ; the women, headed by the grand princess, 
prayed in the churches, or distributed alms to the 
poor. When all preparations for marching were 



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complete, Demetrius offered up a silent prayer at 
the tombs of his ancestors in the church of 
Michael the Archangel. , He asked the parting 
blessing of Sergius, an aged archimandrite, whom 
he loved and revered ; the old man's words were 
solemn : ' You will conquer, ' he said, ' but after 
fearful bloodshed ; you will survive, but your gar- 
lands of victory will be drenched in Christian 
blood." Two chaplains were chosen to accompany 
the prince, and, pointing to their unwarlike dress, 
Sergius reminded them that the Cross was their 
safeguard, and would stand them in stead of earthly 
weapons. Demetrius next bade farewell to his 
wife, with words of comfort, and, after turning to 
clasp her once more to his heart, mounted his 
horse, and led his army out of the Kremlin. The 
day was bright and calm, the countenance of the 
grand prince beamed with hope and courage, and 
from both the soldiers drew presages of victory. 
At Kolomna, on the river Oka, messengers from 
Mamai came to Demetrius, and demanded an 
exorbitant sum of money by way of tribute to the 
khan. Demetrius replied that he was anxious for 
peace, and would gladly pay a reasonable sum to 
secure it, but that his exhausted coffers could not 



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109 



furnish the amount required. The messengers 
abruptly departed, and Demetrius felt that there 
remained no appeal but to the sword. And now 
the news of Oleg's perfidy was brought to him ; 
and, though not unnerved, he w T as grieved and 
astonished. 6 The Prince of Kezan," he remarked, 
in a tone of deep sadness, 'will play the part of 
another Sviatopolk.*' He quickened his movements 
in consequence of these tidings, and hastened on- 
ward to the river Don, resolved to attack the 
Tartars before they could be joined by Iagellon of 
Poland. When Oleg heard of this rapid march, 
he was seized with dread and perplexity ; for he 
had believed the grand prince too much hampered 
to be able to advance boldly, and he had thrown 
Mamai off his guard by telling him so. Now it 
w 7 as too late to warn him ; for the Eussian van- 
guard had already met and routed detachments of 
Tartars, and Demetrius had called together his 
boyards, and said, 1 The hour of the judgment of 
God has struck ! ' His cavalry had crossed the 
river at a ford, his infantry by bridges hastily 
thrown over. This done, he drew them up in 
battle-array, placing a strong body of reserve 
under the command of his cousin Vladimir, and 



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the Prince of Volhynia, men of tried valour and 
prudence. When all was ready the grand prince 
walked to the top of a grassy knoll, whence he 
could descry the enemy's advancing forces as well 
as his own. His heart beat high with pride, says 
the historian, at the sight of his gallant host, all 
in the finest order, their arms blazing in the 
autumnal sun, their standards flapping in the 
breeze, their voices uttering with one accord the 
cry, 4 Great God, give victory to our leader ! 1 
But at the thought how many thousands would lie 
low before the sun had set, he wept ; and, bending 
one knee to the earth, asked for strength and help 
from God. Next, mounting his charger, he rode 
forward with a cheerful countenance, and said: 
4 Beloved brothers, faithful comrades, let your 
deeds this day be such as to win for you never- 
dying fame on earth, or a martyr's crown beyond 
the grave.* 1 

" It was this firm conviction that his cause was 
a righteous one which nerved Demetrius for the 
unequal conflict. Unused as the Russians had 
for centuries been to make any head against their 
oppressors, he felt that they would need an example 
of vigorous daring, and therefore resolved to lead 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



Ill 



the attack himself. His boyards crowded round, 
beseeching him to give up the idea. s We are all 
ready to die for thee, beloved prince, 1 they said ; 
* spare thyself, and live for the good of thy 
country.' 4 That may not be, 1 replied Demetrius ; 
; where you go, I will go also ; could I from a safe 
hiding-place utter the war-cry, Let us die for our 
native land I No, never shall my actions thus put 
to shame my words ! 1 After repeating in a loud 
voice the forty-sixth Psalm. : God is our hope and 
strength, 1 Demetrius led forward his troops, and 
soon the engagement became general. For several 
hours success appeared doubtful ; wherever the 
fight was thickest might be seen the black standard 
of the grand prince, called 'sacred, 1 from the 
figure of our Blessed Lord which was pictured 
upon it ; Demetrius himself seemed to be every 
where, and his majestic height pointed him out to 
his gallant followers ; he fought hand to hand with 
the enemy, and repulsed several desperate attempts 
which they made to carry off the sacred banner. 
The Prince of Volhynia was watching the fight 
from a forest which skirted the battle-field. 
6 Friend," 1 said he to Prince Vladimir, unsheathing 
his sword, 'our turn is come. 1 They emerged 



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CONVERSATIONS ON 



from their green hiding-place, rushed upon the tired 
foe, and completely put them to the rout. Mamai, 
who, after the fashion of Mongol chieftains, had 
taken no part in the fray, fled, exclaiming, 4 The 
God of the Christians is mighty ! 1 His chariots, 
tents, and baggage, besides many camels laden 
with treasure, fell into the hands of the conquerors. 
Prince Vladimir, on his return from pursuing the 
Tartars, halted under the black standard, and blew 
a shrill blast with a trumpet ; its note brought a 
number of princes and boyards to the spot, but 
Demetrius was no where to be seen. c Where is 
my brother V exclaimed Vladimir, 6 where is our 
heroT No one could answer this question, and 
the anxious group dispersed in all directions to 
seek him among the heaps of dead. After a long 
search, he was found lying under a tree, stunned 
by a blow he had received in battle. So pale and 
unconscious was he, that all present thought him 
dead. At last he revived, and opened his eyes. 
Vladimir and the nobles threw themselves at his 
feet, exclaiming, c Prince, thou hast conquered/ 
These words, and the sight of the Christian banners 
floating proudly overhead, brought to his mind the 
full sense of his happiness, and he raised himself, 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 113 

and, having first thanked God, embraced his noble 
cousin, the boyards, and even the common soldiers 
who thronged round him. He replied to their 
anxious inquiries that he felt quite restored ; and 
accordingly, mounting his horse, he slowly rode 
over the bloody field. The excitement of victory 
w r as sobered by the sight of many gallant soldiers 
and many personal friends stretched on the plain ; 
and as a memorial of grateful affection towards 
them, the grand prince appointed one day in the 
year to be observed for ever. This day is still 
called in Russia 4 the Saturday of Demetrius.^ 
The happier task remained of extolling and re- 
warding the survivors, and this Demetrius did, 
with warm and graceful acknowledgments. Had 
it been possible to pursue the Tartars into their 
own w 7 ild country, their power might now have 
been crushed for ever, but this, unhappily, could 
not be done. Winter was drawing on, and the 
vast steppes over which Demetrius would have had 
to march, could • yield no food for a large army. 
Moreover, Iagellon, though he had fled to Poland 
at the first tidings of the battle of the Don, was 
ready and eager to attack Moscow, and Oleg of 
Rezan had taken refuge at his court. So De- 

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metrius and his army returned to the capital, and 
you will easily believe that they were greeted there 
with boundless enthusiasm. Prince Vladimir re- 
ceived the surname of 4 the Brave/ and the grand 
prince was ever afterwards called 4 Demetrius of 
the Don.' This glorious battle is still remembered 
with pride in Russia ; it raised the Russians from 
the degraded state in which they had grovelled so 
long ; it gave them self-respect, and revived a 
longing for freedom which their misery had almost 
extinguished ; it was the first dawn of a brighter 
day. 

" A short respite from invasion followed, and the 
grand prince employed it in building towns, and 
encouraging the arts of peace. The noblest achieve- 
ment of his reign was the conversion of a heathen 
nation, called the Permians, to Christianity. Look, 
Kate, at this large tract of country, lying between 
the Dwina and the Oural Mountains. 

" For centuries, Russia had derived a large 
income from its furs and its silver mines, but no 
attempt had as yet been made to reclaim its wild 
inhabitants from their idolatries. A youth named 
Stephen, the son of a humble parish priest, was the 
first to form this grand design ; he learned their 



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115 



language, concocted an alphabet from its sounds, 
and translated several books of Scripture into it. 
After some years spent in study, he was ordained, 
and having obtained a passport from the grand 
prince, he went to his remote, and perilous field of 
labour. Great were the difficulties this good man 
had to struggle with, from the attachment of the 
savage Permians to their idols: from the vene- 
ration in which they held their wizards or diviners ; 
and last, not least, from the dishonesty and cruelty 
by which Russian traders had disgraced our holy 
religion. But Stephen persevered in preaching 
the Gospel, and gathered around him more than a 
thousand converts : he built a church, and taught 
his flock to worship God in their own tongue. In 
order to prove to them the helplessness of their 
idols, he one day boldly set fire to their temple, 
and while the people looked on aghast, and the 
wizards uttered hideous yells, he calmly preached 
to them the one true God. The chief of the 
vizards came forward, and boasted of his power 
to go through fire or water unhurt, challenging 
Stephen to prove the truth of his doctrine by 
doing the same. 1 It is not given me to com- 
mand the elements.* replied Stephen, meekly ; 1 but 
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the Christian's God is almighty ; I do not refuse 
thy challenge.' The diviner, who had only intended 
to frighten him, now shrank away, amidst the 
general contempt of the people. After building 
several churches, and founding a school for religious 
instruction, Stephen returned to Moscow, to ask 
for more help in his undertaking. Demetrius, who 
both loved and respected this good missionary, 
persuaded the Russian primate to consecrate him 
to the office of first Bishop of Permia. He went 
back to his beloved converts, and laboured long 
and steadily amongst them ; when a severe famine 
broke out, some years later, his wise foresight, 
in causing foreign wheat to be imported into the 
country, saved many lives. The ' Father of the 
Permians,' as he was called, resigned his bishopric, 
when age and infirmity came upon him, and re- 
turned to die at Moscow. His successors trod in 
his steps, and the third bishop obtained the crown 
of martyrdom, while preaching the Gospel to still 
remoter and more ferocious tribes. Stephen 
lies buried in one of the churches within the 
Kremlin. 

" I must now speak of a very remarkable per- 
sonage, who arose about this time to restore the 



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117 



waning glory of the Tartars. You, Eliot and 
Kate, are familiar with the name of Tamerlane, or 
Timour Beg; are you not?" 

44 Yes, papa," replied Kate ; 64 our date-book 
says he became Emperor of Tartary in ]370." 

44 Quite right ; though descended from Genghis 
Khan, he began life so poor that one horse and a 
half-starved camel were all he possessed ; moreover, 
he was lame, and had a crippled hand ; yet this 
man became monarch of thirty-seven kingdoms in 
Europe, Asia, and Africa ! Besides great valour, 
Tamerlane possessed wonderful shrewdness and 
cunning ; he had acquainted himself with the 
history, ancient and modern, of all the empires of 
the world ; he was a Mahometan, but delighted in 
talking of religion and philosophy with learned men 
of all opinions. Some of his letters, written in the 
most flowery style of Eastern eloquence, have been 
handed down to us, and the following extract from 
one addressed to Bajazet, sultan of the Turks, 
will make you smile. After likening Bajazet to a 
mariner, Tamerlane says : 4 The vessel of thy pride 
floats at random on the swelling waves of thy self- 
conceit. Furl, then, the sails of thine audacity, 
and cast the anchor of repentance in the haven of 



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sincerity, else will the tempest of our vengeance 
overwhelm thee in a sea of destruction ! ' 

" When the unhappy sultan was brought a 
prisoner before him, Tamerlane embraced him, and 
affected to console him by a discourse on the 
nothingness of human grandeur. But, with all this 
parade of humanity, he was a savage at heart, and 
loved to mark his progress through conquered 
countries by erecting pyramids of human skulls. 
Russia did not entirely escape, as you shall hear in 
due time, but, by humbling the power of the 
Golden Horde, * Tamerlane was, in fact, of great 
service to her, and helped to pave the way to her 
future freedom. 

" I must now return to Demetrius, and relate to 
you an event which brought him down with sorrow 
to the grave. In 1382, a rumour suddenly reached 
Moscow that all the boats on the Volga had been 
seized, and a large army of Tartars conveyed across 
that river. It was whispered, and too truly, that 
the traitor Oleg was there guiding his allies through 
the forests and morasses which then lay between 
the Volga and Moscow. These tidings were 
brought by some friendly strangers to the grand 
prince, and he set about collecting his forces, with 



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119 



the help of Vladimir the Brave, leaving the city in 
charge of Ostei, its governor, a valiant Lithuanian 
prince. Demetrius and Vladimir promised to 
return within two or three days, and so they did ; 
but to what a scene of misery and carnage ! The 
Tartars, under their great khan, Tok-ta-misch, 
burst upon the city that very evening ; on learning 
that Demetrius was not there, they tried an attack, 
but, failing in it, resolved to take Moscow by 
cunning. Several Tartar nobles drew near the 
walls, and addressed the people with nattering 
words. 4 The khan," they said, 4 looked upon them 
as his faithful subjects, he did not wage war with 
them, but with the grand prince alone ; if they 
would only open their gates to him, and pay him a 
moderate ransom, he promised to grant them 
favourable terms, and to leave their territory im- 
mediately.'' 

44 These promises, had they been made by Mon- 
gols only, would not have deceived any one for a 
moment ; but, unhappily, the khan had brought 
with him two illustrious hostages, princes of Nizne 
Novgorod, and brothers of the Princess Eudoxia. 
Whether from cowardice or from credulity, they 
both declared with a solemn oath their entire belief 



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that the khan meant to keep his word ; and they 
exhorted the men of Moscow to submit. Thus 
misled, the imprudent governor opened his gates, 
and came forth to meet Tok-ta-misch. He paid 
for his folly with his life ; a massacre ensued, the 
Kremlin was stormed, and citizens and clergy, 
young and old, women and children, were all 
slaughtered in the streets and churches. The 
Tartars, after firing the town, retreated as sud- 
denly as they had come ; probably they heard of 
the near approach of Demetrius and his cousin, 
and did not care to have a second encounter with 
the heroes of the Don. As they passed through 
Rezan, the stronghold of their ally Oleg, they set 
it on fire, and wantonly ravaged the country round ; 
a fitting reward for his treachery ! 

"But the anguish of Demetrius, on his return 
to Moscow, cannot be described. 4 He knew, 1 says 
the historian, 'that weak men (judging from the 
results) would blame him for not having submitted 
to the Tartar yoke, as his fathers had done ; but 
this he cared not for ; his conscience was clear 
before God, and he feared neither the reproaches 
of his counsellors, nor the censure of posterity. 1 
It was not his own losses, but the misery of his 



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people, that pierced him to the soul. However, 
he lost no time in vain regrets ; he caused the 
dead to be buried, the smouldering ashes to be 
cleared away, houses and churches to be rebuilt, 
and fresh clergy invited to fill the place of those 
who had perished. 

" Archbishop Cyprian, a Greek, who had fled at 
the approach of danger, was degraded from his 
high post, and banished for some years to Kief. 
Demetrius was obliged to submit to a most bitter 
humiliation, that of seeking peace with the khan ; 
and, for the first time since the battle of the Don, 
paying him a heavy tribute. The yoke that was 
grievous before seemed intolerable now ; but there 
was no remedy, and whatever the grand prince felt, 
he maintained a show of calmness. 

" 1385. Demetrius was now entering his fortieth 
year, and his active, temperate habits gave reason 
to hope he might long be spared to a people that 
adored him. His raven hair was as yet untinged 
with grey; his dark eye flashed as brightly, his 
step was as erect and stately, as in early youth, 
when a mortal sickness suddenly struck him down. 
In a very few days it brought him to the grave. 
In order to quiet the people who thronged round 



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the palace for tidings of their much-loved prince, 
the physicians expressed a hope of his recovery, 
but Demetrius was not deceived. He sent for his 
counsellors, and made his will. The whole scene 
is brought vividly before us by the chronicler. 
The dying prince gathered up his fortitude to take 
leave of Eudoxia and his six children, the youngest 
an infant of a week old, in its mother's arms. He 
called to his boyards as they stood apart in speech- 
less sorrow, and commended to them their future 
monarch, Basil, a youth of seventeen. 6 You 
know my heart,** he said to them, 6 you have ever 
shared my power and my triumphs over the enemies 
of our country ; with you I have been glad, with 
you I have wept. I have been careful to reward 
you according to your merits ; not one of you have 
I wronged in his possessions or his good name. 
Remember this, and be true to my wife and children.' 
His strength failed, and crossing his hands over 
his breast, he said, 4 The God of peace be with 
you!' and expired. 

"Never was a prince more deeply or deservedly 
bewailed than Demetrius. In war he was called 
'the Eagle with the fearless flight;' in peace he 
devoted himself to his people's good, and made up 



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for the disadvantages of a neglected education by 
the strictest attention to business. He was silent 
and reserved, but when he spoke, it was always to 
the point ; and, at home, he was as gentle and 
playful as a child. 4 Some men," says the chro- 
nicler, 4 glorify God in their youth, and some in 
their old age ; but Demetrius's whole life was spent 
in his service.' This good prince lived a life of 
strict self-denial ; and so pure-hearted was he, that 
a coarse jest would at any time bring a blush to 
his cheek. He went to church daily, and made a 
point of often receiving the Holy Sacrament. 
When lying on his death-bed, he was urged, 
according to the fashion of that age, to take upon 
him the vows and habit of a monk ; but he refused, 
saying that such a ceremony, at such a moment, 
could avail nothing for the safety of the departing 
soul. 

44 Sophronymus, a Eussian poet of that day, 
composed a rude but touching dirge to the memory 
of his prince. He thus describes the mutual love 
of Demetrius and Eudoxia : 4 They two had but 
one soul, and that guided by religion. They had 
ever dwelt happily together as the golden-throated 
pigeon and its mate, as the dove with the gentle 



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voice ! and now, at the sight of her lord, stretched 
on his bed of death, tears, burning tears ran down 
the fair face of the grand princess. " The light of 
my eyes is extinguished, the treasure of my life is 
gone," she cries ; " where art thou, my hero ? Look 
on me, speak to me once more ; hast thou already 
forgotten thy wife and thy little ones ? Conqueror 
of nations, has death conquered thee? Alas, for 
the purple with which I delighted to deck thee, 
thou art clothed in the garments of the grave ; for 
a diadem, thy princely head is bound with linen ; 
instead of a palace of delight, thy dwelling shall be 
the coffin. But why do I thus lament, while my 
warrior is deaf to my anguish ? Dearest, thy sleep 
is deep indeed ! Fierce must have been the strife, 
weary the warfare, that was followed by so deep a 
trance ! To whom then shall I turn ? Thou only, 
O God, thou only, King of kings, canst comfort 
sorrow such as mine." ' " 

Colonel Oakeley paused, that his children might 
have the opportunity of making any remarks that 
occurred to them. Kate said she felt as if she had 
lost a friend ; Dora declared she never could care 
for any future grand prince as much as for the 
brave Demetrius ; and Eliot expressed his convic- 



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tion that it was the taking of Moscow that had 
broken his heart. 

" Grandmamma," added Kate, softly, " only 
think of Demetrius repeating your favourite forty- 
sixth Psalm before he went into battle ! we shall 
be reminded of him, when next we read it, shall 
we not?" 

44 Yes, dear; and one feels he had a right to take 
comfort from it, because he was fighting in a holy 
cause, and in a noble and unselfish spirit." 

4 * Did his son Basil tread in his steps, papa 2" 
asked Eliot. 

44 1 will answer you in the words of Karamsin," 
replied Colonel Oakeley; 4 4 4 Without possessing the 
loveable qualities of Demetrius, his courtesy, his ge- 
nerosity, his impetuous valour, Basil kept up through 
life the character of a wise prince, careful in admi- 
nistering justice, esteemed by his boyards, and re- 
spected both by friends and foes.' Though anxious 
to shake off the Tartar yoke, he never ventured to 
do so ; at his coronation, the diadem was placed on 
his head by the khan's ambassador ; and the cus- 
tomary tribute to the Golden Horde was regularly 
paid during the thirty-six years of his reign. 

" In 1392, its khan, Tok-ta-misch, rashly declared 



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war with the great Tamerlane ; the incensed con- 
queror advanced against him, vowing that ' the 
depths of the sea should not hide Tok-ta-misch 
from his wrath f he kept his word, and drove the 
defeated khan to the Russian side of the Volga. 
He then exacted homage from the Kapchak Tartars, 
seated on a splendid throne, and surrounded by 
beautiful slaves who brought him refreshments in 
dishes of gold and silver. This ceremony lasted 
twenty-six days, and shortly after Tamerlane re- 
turned to his luxurious capital, Samarcand (August, 
1395). Three years after, the Golden Horde 
rebelled a second time, and Tamerlane marched 
against them, with an army of four hundred thou- 
sand men, put them to the rout, and entered 
Russia, destroying every thing before him. Basil, 
though but twenty-three, showed himself to be the 
worthy son of Demetrius. He assembled his boy- 
ards, took counsel with them, and, with Vladimir the 
Brave, put Moscow in a state of defence, and then 
led his forces towards the Don. Imagine what 
must have been the astonishment and relief of the 
trembling Russians, when Tamerlane suddenly 
came to a stand still, recalled his army, and after 
remaining quite inactive for a fortnight, departed 



THK HIST011Y OF RUSSIA. ]27 

as quickly as he had come. Historians say that 
it was the approach of an early winter, with its 
cold rains and hard frosts, which deterred the con- 
queror of Delhi, Syria, and Egypt, from proceed- 
ing westward in his career of conquest. He fol- 
lowed the course of the Don, till he reached the 
rich trading city of Azof. Its chief merchants, 
Egyptians, Venetians, Genoese, and Spaniards, 
hastened with costly gifts to meet him. While 
he was detaining them with honied words, one of 
his emirs (or nobles) was sent on to examine the 
defences of the town, and, if possible, to attack it. 
Azof was taken, and such of its inhabitants as were 
not able to reach the shipping in its harbour were 
savagely put to the sword. Tamerlane then re- 
turned to Samarcand, pausing on his way to take 
and burn down Saray, the chief city of the Kap- 
chak Horde. 

" Wars with Poland occupied many years of 
Basil's reign ; he had also much trouble in keep- 
ing the republic of Novgorod in order. This 
unruly little state was governed by a council of its 
own citizens under a ' possadnik 1 or military com- 
mander. It had for centuries paid tribute to the 



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descendants of Ruric, and its archbishops always 
came to the primate of the Russian Church for 
consecration. These slight badges of subjection 
it now tried to shake off, and its possadnik, a prince 
of the ambitious house of Boretzky, declared Nov- 
gorod an independent state. The sight of a 
Russian army under their walls soon brought the 
people to their senses, and they sued for peace ; 
but their rebellious spirit was only checked for a 
while, as you will presently hear. 

" In 1407 Basil lost his mother; and in 1410 
Vladimir the Brave died, lamented by all good 
men. The historian says, he was the c first prince 
of the blood royal who submitted to serve under a 
younger prince he was Basil's firmest friend and 
best counsellor ; and though some of the boyards 
tried to make mischief between him and his young 
kinsman, they did not succeed." 

" Ah," said Dora, " he never forgot the last 
words of Demetrius, 4 Be true to my wife and my 
children.'' " 

Colonel Oakeley smiled at her eagerness ; " There 
is more true greatness in such unselfish conduct," 
he remarked, " than in the boldest warlike ex- 



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129 



ploit ; it reminds one of that saying of Solomon, 
4 He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that 
taketh a city.' 

4i It was in this reign that the use of gunpowder 
first became known in Russia ; you will remember, 
that fifty years before, it had been used by the 
English in the battle of Crecy. The Livonian 
knights became acquainted with it, and through 
them its fame reached Moscow, where a manufac- 
ture of shot was established in Basil's time. An 
idea prevailed in Russia through the whole of the 
fifteenth century, that the end of the world was at 
hand, and chroniclers mention several circum- 
stances which confirmed the people in this belief. 
There were several frightful hurricanes and showers 
of what are now called 6 meteoric stones;' a flood 
carried away great part of the town of Novgorod 
in 1421 ; for several winters no snow fell at all; 
and the plague, or ' black death," broke out a third 
time, and proved fatal to thousands ; the three 
sons of Vladimir the Brave all died of it.' 1 

" Excuse my interrupting you, clear papa,' 1 said 
Kate ; " but what are meteoric stones, and what do 
you mean by showers of them ? " 

" They are solid substances," replied her father, 

K 

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" which fall sometimes singly, sometimes in great 
numbers from the atmosphere. When seen at 
night, they have a fiery appearance, and descend 
very quickly, in a slanting direction, often flying 
to pieces, with a loud hissing noise, and lodging 
themselves deep in the earth. They contain a 
good deal of iron and sulphur, I believe. If 
you ask whence they come, the most learned 
men in the world cannot answer you with any 
certainty; some suppose they proceed from vol- 
canoes ; others, that they are shot from the moon ; 
others, from comets. You can imagine the terror 
with which these meteors, flying at the rate of 
three hundred miles an hour, would inspire be- 
holders. Prodigies of the same kind were seen in 
the reign of Basil the Blind, who succeeded his 
father in 1425, and who was the last grand prince 
that paid tribute to the Tartars. He was but ten 
years old when he came to the throne ; and the 
boyards to whose care he had been trusted had 
shamefully mismanaged his education. He grew 
up proud, insolent, and capricious; in a fit of 
passion he caused a cousin of his own, with whom 
he had a quarrel, to be blinded. The hapless 
youth languished some time in a monastery, and 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



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then died ; but his brothers never rested till, years 
after, they found an opportunity of revenging the 
cruel deed. Of this, you shall presently hear. 

M In 1439, Pope Eugenius IV. convened a coun- 
cil at Florence, in order to attempt an agreement 
between the Eastern Churches and that of Borne. 
It seemed a favourable time for such an under- 
taking ; the Greek empire, now in a miserable state 
of decay, could not stand against the repeated 
attacks of the Turkish sultans, successors of 
Bajazet. John Paleologus. the emperor, was tot- 
tering on his throne, and had come to Italy to beg 
help from the Pope against the infidels. This 
help Eugenius promised to give if J ohn would own 
the supremacy of the Latin Church, and induce 
the Greek clergy to do so. The unhappy emperor, 
beset with difficulties, promised to exert his influ- 
ence, and accordingly summoned many of the 
bishops in his empire to take part in the council 
of Florence. He persuaded his brother-in-law, 
Basil of Russia, to send to it Isidore, Archbishop 
of Moscow. Xow Isidore was a personal friend of 
the Pope, and very much inclined to side with him. 
He embarked at Riga with a numerous train, 
landed at Lubeck, and travelled by Brunswick, 



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Leipsic, Nuremberg, and the Tyrol to Italy. 
Every where he was received with great courtesy, 
and inspected not only the churches, but the 
various manufactures and works of art. The 
Russians, who had never been out of their own 
country, saw with wonder the flourishing towns, 
the beautiful palaces, parks, and gardens of Ger- 
many. The aqueducts, built of stone, delighted 
them very much, and they expressed their surprise 
that the hand of man could create such rivers. 
But what astonished them most was the range of 
Tyrolese mountains, their tops capped with eternal 
snow, their sides clothed with trees, and with 
orange and citron groves in full blossom and fra- 
grance. Isidore pursued his journey to Florence, 
where he remained about a year. Pope Eugenius, 
the Emperor John, and multitudes of grave and 
learned men were there. Their time was spent in 
discussion on the different points at issue between 
the Eastern and Western Churches — points which 
I have already tried to explain to you, as far as it 
is needful to do so. This went on for many 
months. At length, the Greeks, silenced rather 
than convinced, gave way, and signed a paper 
which set forth that the Pope is the only head of 



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133 



the Church, and Vicar of Christ upon earth. One 
prelate, Mark of Ephesus, refused to sign, and 
persisted in his refusal, though threatened with the 
whole weight of the emperor's displeasure. He 
secretly withdrew from Florence. The joy of Pope 
Eugenius at this termination of the council was 
unbounded, but it was short-lived. When John 
Paleologus reached Constantinople, he found it 
impossible to enforce the new decree ; clergy and 
laity rose against it, and said they would rather 
perish than accept help purchased at such a price. 
But it is of Isidore's return home we must now 
speak. After receiving from the Pope a cardinal's 
hat, and the office of 4 Legate to the North,' he 
embarked at Venice, crossed Hungary, and arrived 
at Moscow on a spring day in 1440. The grand 
prince w r ith his train, and an immense number of 
people, were waiting for him in one of the churches 
within the Kremlin. Isidore was unwise enough 
to present himself in his new T dress as legate from 
the Pope. This excited a good deal of surprise, 
and the surprise became displeasure, when, instead 
of the usual form of prayer for the patriarchs of 
the Eastern Church, he inserted the name of 
Eugenius IV. At the close of divine service, a 



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134 CONVERSATIONS ON 

deacon rose, and read aloud the decrees of the 
Council of Florence. All present looked at one 
another, bewildered by what they heard, but the 
names of the emperor and of so many learned pre- 
lates overawed them and kept them silent. At 
length a voice was heard : it was that of the grand 
prince, who sternly addressed Isidore, calling him 
a 6 faithless shepherd and corrupter of souls."' He 
then convened an assembly of bishops, bidding 
them examine the decrees of the Council of Flo- 
rence, and call to their aid such of the laity as 
were best versed in the Holy Scriptures. The 
decrees were solemnly condemned, and Isidore was 
accused of having received a bribe from the Pope. 
He fled to Italy, where Eugenius received him 
with open arms, and bestowed upon him the empty 
title of 4 Primate of all the Russias.*' 

" In 1445, the Golden Horde made another in- 
cursion upon Moscow, but did not reach the gates 
of the city. Basil went forth to meet them, with 
a handful of followers, and, after displaying great 
bravery, was wounded and taken prisoner. It was 
the first time a grand prince had ever fallen into 
the hands of the enemy, and great was the dismay 
caused by this event. The khan was, however, 



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135 



induced to accept a ransom, and, after three 
months' captivity, Basil returned home, and re- 
ceived a much warmer welcome from his people 
than he at all deserved. It was not till the year 
1446 that Demetrius, brother of the unhappy 
prince whose eyes Basil had put out, executed his 
long-cherished scheme for revenge. He posted 
troops round the Kremlin, made Basil prisoner, 
and caused him to be blinded, a fearful retribution 
for the iniquity of past years. The people of Mos- 
cow 7 , true to Basil in spite of his vices and errors, 
rose and delivered him from the hands of his 
captors, and replaced him on the throne. 

" Basil fell into an atrophy at the age of forty- 
seven : his physicians treated him in a singular 
manner, for, in order to restore his strength, they 
singed the whole of his body with some sort of 
fungus set on fire ; in Basil's case the experiment 
proved fatal, and he died in 1461. 

" In this reign was introduced the well-known 
punishment by scourging, called the knout, still 
practised in Eussia. This barbarous custom w T as 
borrowed from the Tartars. 

" You will remember that in 1453 Constantino- 
ple was taken by the Turks, under Mahomet II. 



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Russian historians of that day allude to this event 
with feelings of bitter grief and indignation, and 
especially deplore that the glorious church of the 
Eternal Wisdom should have passed into the 
hands of infidels. It may be worth mentioning 
that our old acquaintance Cardinal Isidore was 
present at this siege, and only escaped by ex- 
changing his own clothes for those of a dead 
soldier. 

" We first hear of the Cossacks in the reign of 
Basil the Blind. They were independent tribes, 
dwelling near the rivers Dnieper and Don. Thence 
they spread over the Ukraine and Poland on one 
side, and part of Siberia on the other. They paid 
no taxes, but did duty as soldiers instead. They 
were all equal in rank, but paid obedience to a 
military chief, chosen by themselves, and called 
Hetman. Their dress was and still continues 
flowing, like that of Eastern nations. They have 
lances from ten to twelve feet long, and, when 
riding, they carry them upright by means of a 
strap fastened to the foot or to the arm. They 
have also a thick whip of twisted leather, a for- 
midable weapon for their enemies as well as for 
the ill-looking but swift and strong little horses 



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137 



which they ride. c The Cossacks fight principally 
in small bodies, with which they attack the enemy 
on all sides, rushing upon them at full speed, with 
a dreadful hurrah and levelled lances V During 
the fifteenth century, they were of great use in 
defending the Russian and Polish frontiers from the 
Turks and Tartars. Stephen Bathori, King of 
Poland, sent a royal standard, a horse's tail, and 
a signet to their Hetman, as tokens of gratitude. 
He and his successors also settled grants of land 
upon them. 

" But I hear a knock at the door, and grand- 
mamma is holding up her watch to remind some of 
us that bedtime is near. Good night, my dear 
children." 

3 Popular Encyclopaedia, Part iv» 



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CHAPTER VI. 

Accession of Ivan Basilovitch the Great, 1462— Subjection of 
Novgorod, 1471 — Marries Zoe, niece of the Emperor Constantine 
Paleologus, 1472 — Last Invasion of the Golden Horde, 1480. — 
Ivan's meanness — Noble conduct of Vassian — Ivan's daughter 
marries Alexander of Poland, 1495 — Quarrel with the Han- 
seatic League, 1495 — The Grand Princess Zoe in disgrace, 
1498— Her death, 1503— That of Ivan, 1505— His character- 
Reign of Basil II. — Rise of the Glinsky family — Taking of 
Smolensk, 1514 — Divorce of the Grand Princess — Birth of Ivan 
the Terrible, 1530 — Death of Basil, 1533 — Manners, customs, 
&c. of Russia — Description of Moscow in 1520, by a German 
traveller. 

" Ivan III. was only twenty-three when he came to 
the throne. His reign lasted forty-three years, 
and was a very remarkable one. He found Russia 
in a distracted state, a prey to the Tartars, and 
unknown to or despised by the kingdoms of Europe. 
He left it, at his death, entirely freed from Mongol 
tyranny, and feared and respected by its European 
neighbours. He nearly doubled the size of his 
dominions, and ruled them with a hand of iron. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



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The first great event of his reign was the conquest 
of Novgorod (1471). You will remember that 
Basil I. had found this republic very troublesome 
fifty years before. It now became quite unmanage- 
able ; a few rich and haughty citizens kept the 
whole power to themselves, making and changing 
laws at their will, and cruelly grinding the poor. 
Contrary to the old Sclavonian customs, which 
forbade women to meddle with public matters, 
Marfa, widow of Prince Boretsky, had acquired 
great influence in the council of Novgorod. She 
was a proud artful woman, and lived in almost 
royal state with her two sons ; and it was in her 
house that the citizens met to talk over public 
business, and to hatch treasonable plots against 
Moscow. Marfa hated Ivan, and was constantly 
urging her partisans to rebellion against him ; but 
it was not the love of freedom which actuated this 
bold, bad woman. She had been gained over by 
Casimir, King of Poland, and was ready to deliver 
Novgorod into his hands. One day the town 
council met as usual in the old palace of J aroslaf 
the Wise, and Marfa resolved to strike the deci- 
sive blow ; her sons, surrounded by a number of 
persons whom she had paid for the purpose, stood 



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up, and declared that it was time to shake off the 
yoke of the grand prince. 4 Ivan is our enemy, 
rather than our liege lord,** they said. c Novgorod 
the Great will henceforward submit to no master ; 
all that we want is a protector, and Oasimir of 
Poland is the man ! Down with Ivan ! Long 
live Oasimir ! ' These seditious cries were heard 
by the people without, and caused a great stir in 
the city ; many took part with the Boretzky fac- 
tion, and went about shouting, c War unto death 
with Moscow but the possadnik and the more 
prudent citizens tried to keep order. c What,*" 
they cried, ' would you betray Russia and our 
Church ? Would you bow to a foreigner, and for- 
sake the sons of Ruric, who for 600 years have 
been lords of Novgorod V But Marfa's friends 
silenced the lovers of order, by throwing volleys of 
stones at them, and crying out, 6 Long live the 
King of Poland ! ' So the quiet citizens shut 
themselves up in their own houses, leaving the 
Boretzkys to manage matters their own way, and 
to dispatch an embassy to King Oasimir. 

" Meanwhile the grand prince, hearing of this 
uproar, sent a boyard to inquire into the cause of 
it ; but he could not so much as obtain a hearing, 



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141 



and returned with all speed to Moscow. The 
grand prince called together a council to decide 
what should be done next ; all with one voice 
urged him to march against the rebellious town. 
But Ivan, who was slow and timid to a degree, 
hung back. £ Winter was over, and a thaw had 
set in/ he said ; c it would be impossible to reach 
Novgorod, surrounded as it was with lakes and 
marshes ; former grand princes had ever feared 
to begin a war at this time of year.'' But these 
objections were set aside, and he was persuaded to 
strike the blow before Casimir of Poland could have 
time to collect his army. Happily, the summer 
proved a very dry one ; not a shower fell from 
May till August, so that Ivan's troops marched 
dryshod over a country that was usually several 
feet under water. 

" Marfa, meanwhile, had not been idle ; she had 
armed and mounted all her adherents, even the 
most peaceable tradesmen (joiners and tinkers, the 
chronicler says), and she sent them forth to the 
banks of lake Ihnen, to meet the Bussian vanguard 
under Prince Kholmsky. As might be expected, 
the motley troop was beaten with great loss, 500 of 
them were killed, and the Moscovites threw their 



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helmets and breastplates into the lake, sa) 7 ing 
they were rich enough, and did not need to burden 
themselves with the spoils of traitors. This 
skirmish was followed by a battle, in which Prince 
Kholmsky defeated the men of Novgorod, and took 
several of their leaders, amongst others, a son of 
Marfa's, bearing upon him the disgraceful treaty 
concluded with Poland. This document was 
carried to Ivan, who read it with mingled grief and 
anger, and ordered Boretzky to be beheaded on the 
spot. He took measures to surround the town, 
and kept it strictly blockaded till the month of 
August, when famine began to stare its wretched 
inhabitants in the face. Many of them would 
gladly have surrendered, but Marfa was obstinate. 
She had contrived to send a messenger to Casimir, 
begging for instant help, and she was in daily ex- 
pectation of his army making its appearance. 
Imagine her dismay when the messenger returned, 
saying that the grand master of the Livonian 
Knights had refused to let him pass through his 
territory. The men of Novgorod, now driven to 
despair, sued for mercy. It was long before Ivan 
could be persuaded to listen to them, for their 
obstinacy had greatly enraged him. At last, he 



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143 



granted them terms of peace, very hard and gall- 
ing, and returned to Moscow, leaving a boyard to 
govern the conquered province." 

" Was Marfa punished in any way, papa?" 
asked Eliot. 

" The grand prince found an ingenious way of 
humbling this proud woman," replied Colonel Oake- 
ley : w in his treaty with Novgorod, he did not so 
much as mention her name ! I am sorry to say 
that a great deal of wanton cruelty was shown by 
the Russians in this campaign ; they behaved like 
savages, not only towards the rebels themselves, 
but towards their wives and innocent children. 
Novgorod did not at once submit with a good 
grace to the dominion of Moscow; there were 
several insurrections in the next seven years, but 
Ivan put them down with a high hand ; Marfa 1 s 
second son was detected in a conspiracy, taken pri- 
soner, and carried in chains to Moscow. The 
lower people, who had been grievously oppressed 
by their rich fellow-townsmen, were far happier 
under Ivan's strict but just rule, and soon became 
reconciled to it, and after 1478 we hear of no more 
disturbances. It was, however, a bitter day for 
Novgorod, when the famous bell which for cen- 



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turies had hung up in their town-hall, and called the 
citizens to council, was carried off to Moscow, and 
placed in the cathedral there. 

" Ivan had married in early youth a boyard's 
daughter, named Mary. She died young, leaving 
him with one son, also named Ivan ; he mourned 
for her truly, and it was not till 1472 that he 
sought the hand of Zoe, niece of the last Greek 
emperor. This princess had been brought up in 
Italy, under the eye of Pope Sixtus IV. 5 who 
gladly gave her to Ivan, vainly hoping that her 
influence might win him to submit to the see of 
Rome. Zoe quitted Italy with a large retinue, 
and travelled north as far as Lubeck, where a fine 
vessel was waiting to convey her to Revel. 

" The Livonian Knights seem to have been 
anxious to please Ivan, and they treated his bride 
with splendid hospitality at this place. She and 
her suite crossed the lake of Tchoude in ornamental 
boats, and were met by a little fleet, crowded with 
Russian nobles, who stood up with goblets of wine 
in their hands, and drank the health of their future 
sovereign. Touched with their hearty welcome, 
Zoe left her own barge, and stepped into a Russian 
one ; she tarried five days in the town of Pskof, 



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and gained all hearts by her graceful, winning ways; 
her parting words to the citizens were these : c I 
hasten to meet your prince, who will soon be mine 
also ; I thank the magistrates, boyards, and towns- 
people of the great Pskof. and will neglect no 
opportunity of pleading their cause at the court of 
Moscow. 1 

" Zoe entered the capital in a kind of triumph, 
and the marriage took place a few days after. In 
honour of her, the grand prince adopted the arms 
of the Greek emperors, the double-headed eagle, 
still seen on Russian coins. This beautiful and 
clever woman did much towards civilizing her new 
subjects. She must have been greatly shocked at 
first at their uncouth manners ; for Contarini, a 
Venetian traveller of that day, speaks of their 
•sloth and drunkenness 1 with much disgust. He 
makes honourable mention of the grand prince, and 
praises his noble mien, his politeness, and his wish 
to learn the customs of other countries. Contarini 
dined one day at his table. A silver tankard was 
brought to him, full of the intoxicating liquor 
called mead, and he was told that the custom of 
the country was to drink it off at one draught ; 

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Ivan, however, courteously excused him from doing 
so, and made him a present of the tankard. 

" A Tartar horde had lately settled in the 
Crimea, and with them Ivan established a firm 
friendship, which proved of the greatest use to 
him. He had never submitted, like his forefathers, 
to do homage to the great khan for his crown, but 
he had continued till now to pay him a yearly 
tribute, bending the knee while he did so, and 
spreading a carpet of sable furs under the feet of 
the Mongol ambassador. No wonder that the 
high-spirited Zoe could not bear this disgrace, and 
exclaimed angrily, • Am I to be the slave of a 
Tartar chief?" There was a house in the Kremlin, 
set apart for the Mongol officers, and its inmates 
used to act as spies on the grand prince, and report 
all he said or did to their khan, Achmet. Zoe 
determined to get rid of these troublesome neigh- 
bours, and set about it thus : she sent a letter and 
presents to the khan's wife, and told her she had 
had a vision from heaven, bidding her build a 
church in the Kremlin, and place it on the very 
spot where the Mongol's palace now stood ! She 
therefore begged leave to transfer their residence 



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to some other quarter of the town. The Tartar 
princess was simple enough to be taken in by this 
unworthy artifice ; the house was pulled down 5 but 
it does not appear that any other dwelling was 
given to the khan's officers. The palmy days of 
the Kapchak or Golden Horde were now over, 
and, like the old lion in Esop's fable, it had to bear 
many affronts from those it had formerly trampled 
upon. However, Achmet possessed some spirit, 
and having no great opinion of the warlike genius 
of Ivan, he resolved to attack Moscow in 1480. 
The grand prince sent his son, Ivan the Younger, to 
keep the Tartars in check ; and he himself encamped 
on the Oka with the main body of his forces. He 
was in much the same position as his great-grand- 
father, Demetrius, before the battle of the Don, 
a hundred years earlier, only his army was larger 
and better disciplined, and that of the Tartars 
weaker than on the previous occasion. 

" But Ivan was not Demetrius, and with a 
caution that looks like meanness, he took the 
greatest pains to avoid a battle. He listened to 
such of his counsellors as advised peace on any 
terms ; he turned back to Moscow ( on pretext of 
consulting his mother ; and, to add to the general 
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alarm, he sent his wife and children many hundred 
miles to the north for safety. These delays chafed 
the gallant spirit of Ivan the Younger, and when 
his father sent to recal him to Moscow, he took 
no notice of the message, merely saying, c We are 
expecting the Tartars." To his friend, Prince 
Kholmsky, he added : ' I would rather die than 
leave the army a single instant. 1 Day after day 
passed with no event except a few arrows shot at 
random from each camp ; the more Ivan wavered, 
the more insolent Achmet grew ; and at last he 
sent word to the grand prince that, if he wished 
for peace, he must come and kiss the khan's 
stirrup ! Now it happened that this bravado 
reached the ears of Vassian, Archbishop of Mos- 
cow ; the intrepid old man, who had already tried 
to inspire Ivan with courage, was much grieved, 
and wrote thus to the monarch : 6 Our duty is to 
tell the truth to kings, and what I have already 
spoken I now write to you, chief of the great 
ones of the earth ! Touched by the exhortations 
of your august mother, and of your faithful coun- 
sellors, you left Moscow, resolved to make a firm 
stand against the infidels ; we, meanwhile, offered 
up unwearied prayers for your success. And now 



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we learn that at Aehmet's approach you shrink, 
you waver, you seek a shameful alliance with the 
cruel enemy of our faith. Ah, prince ! w T ho has 
persuaded you thus to betray your country, and 
give up your people to be destroyed by fire and 
sword • Prince, the blood of your murdered flock 
would cry out for vengeance against its cowardly 
shepherd, were you to make terms for yourself, 
and leave them to perish ; though you could soar 
on high as the eagle, and make your nest among 
the stars, yet the Lord would pluck you thence.' 
He then proceeds in a gentler strain to remind 
Ivan of the glorious deeds of his ancestors ; and he 
exhorts him not to be faithless, but to trust in 
that Grod who delivered Israel of old from the rage 
of Pharaoh ; he ends by pronouncing a solemn 
blessing on the prince, his son, and all his brave 
warriors.' 1 '' 

" Oh, papa," said Dora, " did not Ivan die 
of shame at receiving such a letter?" 

o 

" He was not so sensitive,' 1 replied Colonel 
Oakeley ; u we are told indeed that it inspired 
him with courage, and that he vowed to conquer 
or die ; nevertheless he remained fifteen days more 
quite inactive, though his brothers had joined him 



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with a numerous force. Nothing more was done 
till the end of October, when winter set in, and 
the rivers became frozen over. Ivan then sent 
orders to all his vaivodes (or chief officers) to 
retreat to the town of Kremenetz, promising to 
give battle to the khan on the plain that surrounds 
it. His troops, now thoroughly disheartened, re- 
treated in a most disorderly manner. The Tartars, 
seeing their hurried departure, imagined that it 
was a device of Ivan's to lure them into some 
ambush. They also drew back ; and so, says the 
historian j the strange sight was seen of two armies 
running away from each other, with no one to 
pursue them. The Russians drew up at Kreme- 
netz, but Achmet, hearing that the rival khan of 
Crimea had entered his territory and taken and 
sacked Saray, returned home with all speed. So 
ended the last Kapchak invasion, and in a few years 
more the Golden Horde ceased to exist. c Not by 
the strength of her armies, not by the wisdom of 
her statesmen, was Russia saved,' says the annalist, 
4 but only by the arm of the Lord of Hosts.'' You 
will not be surprised to hear that Ivan was very 
coolly received on his return to Moscow ; so was 
the grand princess, who, in her selfish fear, had 



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fled from town to town, never resting till she 
reached the Baltic Sea. On the other hand, 
Archbishop Vassian was extolled to the skies, and 
his letter was copied and kept as a relic by all 
true lovers of their country ; but the noble old 
man was soon to be removed beyond the reach of 
earthly praise or blame ; he fell sick and died, to 
the great grief of the people, and his memory is 
still dear to their children. 

" In 1490 Ivan the Younger died, at the age of 
thirty-two, leaving an infant son, named Deme- 
trius. Ivan was in character the very reverse of 
his father, — impetuous, frank, and generous ; he 
was attended in his last illness by a J ewish doctor 
called Leo, who presumptuously staked his life on 
the recovery of his patient. The patient died, and 
his hapless physician was tried and executed in 
the market-place of Moscow six weeks after. 

"We read that about this time a dangerous 
sect arose in the Russian Church ; it was called 
the 'Jewish heresy,' and its followers, several of 
whom were learned men and priests, held most 
dreadful opinions, denying a future state, and 
blaspheming our divine Saviour. I shall not per- 
plex you with any more details respecting these 



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miserable men, but only mention that several of 
them were condemned to death in the reign of 
Ivan. This is, I believe, the only instance in 
which the Russian Church has shown severity 
towards heretics ; and Karamsin takes care to tell 
us, that it was for treasonable practices, and not 
for their religious opinions, that they suffered. 

" Ivan sent ambassadors to Germany about this 
time, to request the friendship of the Emperor 
Maximilian I. He also made a treaty of peace 
with Bajazet, the Turkish sultan, and with Alex- 
ander of Poland, the son and successor of Oasimir. 
This prince requested the hand of Ivan's daughter, 
Helen, which was granted to him on condition 
that the princess should be allowed to remain 
faithful to the Greek Church, in which she had 
been brought up. The Polish ambassadors arrived 
at Moscow in the winter of 1495, and astonished 
the Russians by the splendour of their dress, and 
of the trappings of their horses. They remained 
a week, at the end of which Helen set out, under 
their escort, to join her future husband. Her 
father and mother accompanied her some way 
from Moscow, and the grand prince, cold-hearted 
as he generally was, parted from her with real 



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grief and tenderness. It might have been that he 
foresaw how joyless and forlorn her life would be, 
married to a man whom she could neither love nor 
respect; and that his heart smote him for sacri- 
ficing her to his own ambition. Alexander met 
his bride some miles from Wilna ; he was accom- 
panied by all the great nobles of Poland. The 
betrothed couple seated themselves hand in hand 
on a carpet of scarlet and gold, and addressed a 
few friendly words to one another ; they then 
made their entry into Wilna, the prince on horse- 
back, the princess in a magnificent sledge. Helen 
alighted at the door of the Greek Church, and 
attended divine service, after which her ladies, 
according to the Russian custom, fastened up the 
long hair that had hung over her shoulders, placed 
a bridal veil and a garland of hop branches on her 
head, and led her to the Latin Church, where 
Alexander was waiting for her. Contrary to 
Alexander's express promise, the marriage was 
solemnized by a bishop of the Church of Rome, 
and this breach of faith was followed by others, 
which led to a fierce war between the grand prince 
and his son-in-law. Helen showed great wisdom 
and meekness in her trying position. She kept up 



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an affectionate correspondence with her father, but 
secretly, for fear of her husband's displeasure ; and 
in her letters she never breathed a complaint 
against Alexander, but often pleaded his cause 
and that of her new country. So impressed was 
Ivan with the misery of this royal alliance, that he 
gave his youngest and darling child, Theodosia, 
in marriage to a boyard, the son of that Prince 
Kholmsky who conquered Novgorod. She died 
within the year. 

" In the early part of his reign, Ivan had sent 
an army to the north and conquered Permia and 
the country bordering on the Oural mountains. 
Some Germans exploring in that direction, in 
1491, found a silver and a copper mine not far 
from the river Petchora. They hastened to tell 
this good news to the grand prince, who was over- 
joyed, and sent workmen to dig the mines. Some 
gold was also found, and from this time the 
Russians had a mint and coinage of their own. 
A gold medal is still preserved which bears this 
inscription upon it : 6 Coined from gold dug out of 
the grand prince's own mine, and given by him to 
his daughter Theodosia.'' 

" I have already mentioned to you that the 



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famous Hanseatic League, or company of German 
merchants, found its way into Russia in the thir- 
teenth century. It had ever since carried on a 
flourishing commerce in this country, and a body 
of its traders, forty-nine in number, resided at 
Novgorod. In 1495. they gave some cause of 
offence to Ivan, and he took summary vengeance 
by closing their church and their factory, seizing 
their goods, to the value of a million of florins, 
and throwing the unhappy foreigners into prison. 
Vainly did the League, the Kino- of Poland, and 
the Grand Master of Livonia, send ambassadors 
to plead their cause : Ivan was inexorable : and 
when, a year afterwards, he set them free, he still 
refused to restore any part of their property. The 
grand prince perceived too late the folly, as well 
as cruelty, of his conduct. Novgorod dwindled in 
importance from that time : most of the foreign 
merchants fled from a country where they were 
exposed to such injustice, and the trade which 
Russia lost was eagerly grasped at by her neigh- 
bours. Poland and Livonia. 

A dark cloud hangs over the last years of 
Ivan. In 149S. it was rumoured that the grand 
princess had dealings in witchcraft, and that 



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women who practised magical arts had been seen 
stealing in and out of the palace. About the 
same time a plot to poison Demetrius, Ivan's 
grandson, and to raise Basil, his eldest son by Zoe, 
to the throne, was detected. Fearful was the rage 
of the grand prince when told of this conspiracy. 
He caused his secretary of state and four boyards 
to be seized, put to the torture, and beheaded. 
He ordered his son Basil to be placed under arrest 
in his own chamber ; and as for Zoe, whose real 
share in this plot can never be known, he refused 
so much as to see her for a whole year. Her sup- 
posed accomplices in witchcraft were tried, con- 
demned, and drowned at night in the river 
Moskwa. I must remind you that the belief in 
magic was not peculiar to Russia ; it extended 
over the whole of Europe, I believe ; and not many 
years before Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, was 
actually burnt alive for using unlawful arts to 
hasten the death of our Henry VI. 

" Ivan caused his grandson to be crowned in 
the cathedral of Moscow with great solemnity; 
but though Demetrius was a gentle, engaging 
youth, and much beloved, no joy was felt or ex- 
pressed at his coronation. Gloom and anxiety 



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filled all minds ; and as he stood at his grand- 
father's right hand, with the crown on his young 
head, and the regal mantle about his shoulders, it 
was remarked that he looked like a victim decked 
out for sacrifice. These gloomy presages were 
soon fulfilled. The grand prince had never felt 
much affection for his wife, but he was in the habit 
of consulting her on all occasions, and was utterly 
miserable while estranged from her. They met 
and were reconciled ; and from that time there 
was a marked coldness on the part of Ivan towards 
the innocent Demetrius. The boyards who had 
followed and flattered the young prince saw that 
the tide was about to turn against him, and came 
flocking back to Zoe. Two years later Demetrius 
was accused of treason, and deprived of all his 
dignities, which were bestowed on his half-brother 
Basil. 

"The artful Princess Zoe died in 1503, and 
Ivan only survived her two years ; in his will he 
made no mention of his grandson, but left all his 
possessions to the sons of Zoe. 

" Ivan was the first grand prince who took the 
title of Czar in his treaties with foreign monarchs ; 



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the term had been long familiar to Russian ears, and 
was applied to several of their princes, especially 
to Demetrius of the Don. 6 It is not derived,' says 
Karamsin, 4 from the Latin word Caesar, as some 
learned men suppose ; but is an old Eastern word 
met with in the Sclavonic translation of the Bible, 
and applied by us first to the Greek emperors 
and then to the Mongol khans. It signifies in 
Persian, 'throne, supreme power,'' and may be 
traced in the names of the Assyrian kings, Nebu- 
chadnezzar, Phalassar, &c." 

" 1 should think," said Dora, " that no one can 
have mourned for Ivan ; he was so hard and cruel." 

u He appears to have been more feared than 
loved," said Colonel Oakeley. " We are told that 
no one dared ask a favour of him ; that the 
boyards, even while feasting at his table, trembled 
at his look, and that when he went to sleep, as 
was his wont after dinner, they did not venture 
to move or utter lest they should disturb him. 
' Women,' says the chronicler, ' have been known 
to faint at the sight of his countenance, when 
angry;" 

" 0, papa, that is the worst of all," cried Eliot. 



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u You said once that there was a want of chivalry 
in Russia ; I am sure Ivan could not have possessed 
a spark of it ! " 

" I agree with you," replied Colonel Oakeley, 
amused at Eliot's warmth. 44 The man who could 
turn his back on his enemies, and terrify helpless 
women by his frowns, had nothing of the true 
knight about him. But in spite of his want of 
generosity and of personal courage, he did much 
for Russia, and, as I have already told you, nearly 
doubled her dominions. He left her with a large 
and well-disciplined army, freed from the Tartars, 
and at peace with all the European powers, except 
Poland. Russian historians speak of his reign 
with a good deal of pride, and have given him the 
surname of 4 Great.' 

44 Basil Ivanovitch quietly succeeded his father 
in 1505; but he did not venture to be publicly 
crowned, as that would have reminded the people 
of the fate of his unhappy nephew. Demetrius 
still languished in prison, and the death of his 
grandfather brought him no relief. Basil was 
cruel enough to deprive him of the visits of his 
friends, and even of the cheerful daylight; no 
wonder that, weighed down with sadness, without 



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pursuit and without hope, Demetrius soon pined 
away. ' He was,** says Karamsin, 6 one of those 
victims of state policy, whom all kind hearts 
deplore, but who find no avenger on this side the 
grave.' Death restored him to all his kingly 
rights ; his body lay in state on a magnificent 
couch, in the sight of all the people ; his funeral 
was a gorgeous one, and his remains were placed 
near those of his father within the Kremlin. 

" The reign of Basil may be called a continuation 
of Ivan's ; he had the same views and wishes, the 
same rather crooked policy, the same enemies, 
and the same friends, with the exception of the 
khan of Crimea, Ivan's staunch ally, who became 
Basil's most troublesome neighbour. Alexander 
of Poland having died in 1506, Basil sent a con- 
fidential servant with a letter of condolence to his 
sister. He charged the messenger to have a 
secret interview with Queen Helen, and to tell her 
that she had it in her power to distinguish herself 
by a great stroke of policy ; that if she would only 
use her influence with the Polish nobles, they 
might be induced to elect him king, and thus 
unite the crowns of Russia, Poland, and Lithuania 
on one head. Helen's reply dashed these hopes ; 



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she told Basil that the Poles had already fixed 
their choice on Sigismund, her husband's brother, 
a wise, politic, and valiant prince. Sigismund 
himself sent an envoy to Moscow to propose to 
the czar a solid and lasting peace ; but Basil, 
thoroughly out of temper at the failure of his pet 
scheme, would not listen to reason, and sent Prince 
Kholmsky with an army to attack the Polish 
dominions. 

"Among the great nobles of Lithuania there 
was none equal in fame, in power, and in riches, 
to Michael G-linsky. 1 the delight of his friends, the 
terror of his enemies." He was of Tartar family, 
descended, it is said, from that Mamai whom 
Demetrius conquered ; but he had been brought 
up in Germany, and had served several campaigns 
on the sunny plains of Italy. He afterwards 
became intimate with Alexander of Poland, and 
fought bravely for him against the Crimean Tartars. 
The other nobles became jealous of him. and on 
Alexander's death accused him of aspiring to the 
tin-one. Glinsky hated Sigismund. and took this 
opportunity of leaving the Polish service and pay- 
ing court to the czar. He assisted at the taking 
of the ancient town of Smolensk, which, to Basil's 

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great joy, was recovered in 1514. Glinsky's 
ambition knew no bounds, and he actually asked, 
as a reward for his services, that the principality 
of Smolensk should be given to him. When Basil, 
as might be expected, laughed this request to 
scorn, Glinsky revenged himself by entering into 
a treaty with his old enemy Sigismund, and pro- 
mising to put the Russian army in his power. 
This plot was found out, and Glinsky was loaded 
with irons and thrown into a dungeon at Moscow. 
There he lay unpitied for two years, till a very 
unexpected event raised him to favour again. The 
grand prince had married in early youth a young 
Russian girl, named Solomona, and they lived 
happily together nearly twenty years. But Solo- 
mona had no children ; Basil's brothers were weak 
and worthless, and Basil feared that in case of his 
death the empire would be given over to civil war. 
These gloomy thoughts took more and more hold 
of his mind, and he at last laid them open to his 
counsellors and asked their advice. It was easy 
to guess what his wishes were, and many of his 
courtiers did not scruple to bid him divorce his 
innocent wife and marry another. The Archbishop 
of Moscow, a most unworthy successor of Vassian, 



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headed this party. There were not wanting honest 
men. both among the nobles and clergy, who told 
Basil to his face that such a deed was contrary to 
the laws of God and the Church : but they were 
thrust aside : several of them were cast into prison, 
and Prince Khourbsky, a * brave general and 
austere Christian,* was exiled for pleading the 
cause of Solomona. The vain form was gone 
through of exhorting the princess to renounce the 
world of her own free will ; she indignantly refused, 
and some days after was carried off by main force 
to a convent many miles from Moscow. It is 
said, she struggled desperately with the cruel and 
insolent officer whom Basil entrusted with this 
commission. At last, seeing that resistance was 
vain, she solemnly uttered these words: — 4 God 
sees me : He will avenge me of my persecutors/ 

•* To the surprise and disgust of the court, the 
czar lost no time in choosing as Solomona's suc- 
cessor Helen Glinsky. niece of the traitor Michael. 
He could not have made a worse choice ; very 
likely he was blinded by his admiration of her 
beautv and liveliness : for she had been brought 
up in Germany, and her free and sprightly manners 
were a contrast to those of the shy and retiring 



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Russian maidens. He never ceased to pay her 
the most devoted attentions, and he altered his 
style of dress, and had his hair clipped in a new 
fashion, in order to gratify his young bride. 

" 1530. Three years after this unhallowed 
marriage (if marriage it may be called), Helen 
gave birth to a son, the far-famed Ivan the Terri- 
ble, so well known in Russian story. Chroniclers 
report that at the hour in which he was born a 
terrific thunderstorm burst over Moscow, and the 
heavens were rent by the dazzling glare of the 
lightnings. The next year, Helen became mother 
of a second son, who was baptized by the name of 
Youri. 

" Basil was only fifty-four when his last illness 
came upon him ; he caused himself to be placed on 
a sledge, and brought by easy stages to Moscow. 
His courtiers tried to please him by assuring 
him he would soon get well; but he sent for 
his faithful German physician, Luif, and spoke 
thus before them all : — ' My dear friend, you 
willingly forsook your native country to serve 
me ; you know my attachment towards you, and 
how much I have done to prove it. Now, tell 
me honestly, whether it is in your power to 



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restore me to health.'' .'My lord, 1 replied Luif. 
c I am but a mortal man, and cannot raise the 
dead. 1 4 Well, my friends,' said the czar to his 
boyards, with a smile, 4 you hear what Luif says ; 
we must part.' But Basil's composure did not last 
loner. It was shaken bv the loud and selfish 
lamentations of Helen, who came to his room to 
receive his last farewell. She was soon removed; 
but a busy crowd of courtiers, the Grlinskys at 
their head, flitted round the bed of the dying- 
monarch to the last. What his thoughts were in 
that hour we cannot tell, but his conscience was 
evidently not at rest. He roused himself from 
heavy sleep, and begged that no time might be 
lost in putting upon him the monkish dress ; 
deeply imbued with the superstitions of that age, 
he could not die in peace without it. Then arose 
a most unseemly struggle, some of the bystanders 
wishing to fulfil his request, others resolved that 
the ceremony should not take place. A monk 
brought in the black robe, and was placing it on 
the czar's shoulders, when two of his chief nobles 
snatched it away. The dying man had become 
speechless, but by agonized looks and signs he 
besought them to let him die in peace. The 



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Gospels were laid upon his breast, and the usual 
ceremony of shaving the head began, but before 
it was over, the soul of the czar had passed away ; 
1533. 

" Thus Basil died. A German traveller of that 
time, Baron Herberstein, gives many particu- 
lars of his private life. He was very attentive to 
the business of the state, but as soon as it was 
dispatched, he used to betake himself to his 
favourite pastime of hunting. Herberstein was pre- 
sent at one of these excursions, and thus describes 
the czar : c As soon as we perceived the monarch 
we alighted, and advanced towards him. He was 
mounted on a fine horse, and splendidly dressed ; 
his head was covered with a very high cap, em- 
broidered with jewels, and surmounted with golden 
feathers which floated in the breeze. A dagger 
and two knives were stuck in his girdle. At his 
right rode Aly, Tartar chief of Kazan, armed with 
a bow and quiver ; 300 horsemen rode after him.** 

" Basil was much more affable than his father, 
and would lean back on his couch after dinner, and 
talk over the sports of the day with his boyards. 
Nevertheless Herberstein expresses his astonish- 
ment at his despotic sway. c He speaks, and it is 



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done ; the life, the fortune of his noblest subjects 
hang on his will. He does not know what con- 
tradiction means, and whatever he does is thought 
right. The usual saying of the Eussians is. " As 
Heaven and the czar will," " Heaven and the czar 
only know."" One of his chief officers, a white- 
headed old man, came galloping to meet us on our 
arrival at Moscow ; he showed the utmost haste 
and anxiety, and great drops of perspiration stood 
on his brow. When I expressed my surprise, he 
said. " Ah. sir, we serve our princes in quite a 
different manner from you foreigners ! M , 

" The nobles copied the pride of their monarch, 
and were haughty and insolent, never speaking a 
word to their inferiors, nor choosing to be seen on 
foot. Their wives led a very retired life, and 
were seldom seen except at church ; sewing and 
spinning were their chief employments, as it was 
thought below their dignity to meddle in domestic 
matters. The peasant women were far happier, 
inasmuch as there was nothing to hinder their 
ordering their own households. There was a 
curious law, that no woman might kill any animal. 
So, says the chronicler, * the cottager's wife might 
be seen with a fowl or a duck in her hand, waiting 



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in the road for the next passer-by, to kill it for her 
dinner. 1 Amongst the delicacies at the royal 
table, we read of roasted swans; foreign wines 
seem to have taken the place of mead about this 
time. 

" It was then very difficult and dangerous to 
travel in Russia, unless on the czar's business. 
His messengers were both swift and sure; they 
were supplied with fresh horses at intervals of a 
very few miles only ; and if their horses were lamed 
or knocked up on the road, they left them behind, 
and seized the first they met. Mounted messen- 
gers went to and fro between Moscow and Nov- 
gorod, a distance of 360 miles, in seventy-two 
hours. 

" In the remoter parts of Russia houses were 
few and far between; but as the traveller drew 
near Moscow the scene became cheerful and 
animated. Many cars and waggons might be seen 
on the broad highway, and on each side of it 
stretched cultivated fields or rich meadows. From 
the midst of the plain rose the majestic Moscow, 
with her stone palaces, and gilded domes, and the 
whitened walls of her Kremlin, half hidden by 
groves of trees. Her suburbs were very extensive ; 




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171 



no blacksmith or tradesman whose craft required 
the use of fire was allowed to dwell in the city. 
The steep bank of the river was dotted with a great 
number of mills. There were some few narrow, 
dirty streets, but the gardens which divided them 
allowed a free circulation of air, and fevers or 
infectious diseases were scarcely ever heard of 
there. In 1520 there were 41,500 houses in 
Moscow, and somewhere between 100,000 and 
200,000 inhabitants. 

" In winter, corn, hay, meat, timber for building, 
and fuel were sold on the frozen surface of the 
river Moskwa. And now, my dear children, good 
night; Ivan the Terrible will require a whole 
evening to himself, perhaps more." 



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CHAPTER VII. 

Accession of Ivan IV., 1533— Death of Helen Glinsky, 1538 — 
Marriage of Ivan — Fire- at Moscow, 1547 — Siege of Kazan, 
1553 — Conquest of Astrakhan, 1554 — Treaty of commerce 
with England, 1555 — Ejeath of the Czarina Anastasia, 1560. 

" Ivan IV. was only three years old when his father 
died. His mother, Helen Grlinsky, was appointed 
regent with unbounded power, and a council of 
boyards was chosen, not to control, but to support 
and direct her. The czar had exhorted her with 
his dying breath always to look to her uncle 
Michael Glinsky, and to do nothing without his 
approval ; but Helen had no intention of the kind. 
She had long been suspected of a secret regard for 
Prince Telennef, master of the horse to the late 
czar, and she now proclaimed him in the most 
shameless manner to be her favourite. She would 
listen to no one else ; his enemies became hers, 
and she used the sovereign power placed in her 
hands to crush all who opposed him. The crimes 



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173 



committed by Helen in the few short years of her 
regency make one shudder, and almost surpass 
belief. A week after her husband's death she 
caused his brother. Prince Youri. to be arrested, 
on a false charge of treason against his infant 
nephew. He was shut up in the chamber where 
the young Demetrius had pined away, and there 
left to perish with hunger. His youngest brother 
Andrew, who had really joined in a plot against 
Helen, fled from Moscow, but was overtaken ; he 
wrote in the most abject manner to beg for mercy, 
but in vain ; he also was put to death, and many 
of his adherents with him. These murders struck 
terror into every heart, and ; curses not loud but 
deep" were breathed against the wretched Helen 
and her favourite. One voice at last was openly 
raised to protest against their wickedness ; it was 
that of Michael Glinsky. The old man. though 
crafty and ambitious, was not dead to feelings of 
honour ; and he went to his niece and rebuked her 
severely for her conduct. Fearful to relate, neither 
his grey hair, nor the ties of blood, could save him 
from the vengeance of Telennef, by whose order he 
also was starved to death. 

M Helen, in spite of her crimes, was anxious to 



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stand well with the people, and she tried to amuse 
them by great pomp and display, and by giving 
magnificent feasts. She often went the round of 
the churches in Moscow, taking her little son with 
her ; but this pretence of piety only disgusted 
those whom it was meant to blind. She allowed 
Telennef to head a warlike expedition into Li- 
thuania, in which he gained great credit by his 
bravery. She provided for the safety of Moscow 
by building a strong wall round it, and she took 
vigorous measures to stop a practice of forging 
money, which had greatly injured trade. But 
nothing could save her from the hatred and con- 
tempt of the people; and when in the year 1538 
she died suddenly, the general feeling was one of 
joy and relief. Baron Herberstein states as a fact 
that she was poisoned; nothing more is known, 
except that she died without any previous illness, 
and was buried the same afternoon. Neither the 
boyards nor the people put on the least pretence 
of sorrow. The little czar alone wept, and threw 
himself on the neck of Telennef. To this bad man 
Helen's death was indeed a stunning blow ; for he 
felt that he had nothing left to hope for. The people, 
silent and awe-struck, waited breathlessly to learn 



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175 



into whose hands the government of the empire 
would fall. It was not the love of justice, so much 
as feelings of malice and revenge, which actuated 
the boyards in their treatment of Telennef. He 
was thrown into a dark dungeon, and left to perish 
by the same death which he had inflicted on Prince 
Youri and Michael Glinsky. And now began a 
struo;o;le between the chief boyards as to who 
should succeed Telennef in the supreme power. 
The family of Schouisky first obtained it : they 
fell, and the government was placed in the hands 
of Prince Belzky. a near relation of the czar. 
• He was.* says Karamsin. ' a man of true greatness 
of soul, intrepid in war. and enlightened in religion.' 5 
He. alas ! shortly perished by the hands of con- 
spirators, and the little czar shed bitter tears for 
his loss. 

**In 1540 the Khan of Crimea took advantage 
of the wretched state of Russia, and marched with 
a laro-e army as far as Eezan. Ivan was then a 
boy of ten years old. full of quickness and talent, 
passionate, but not devoid of gentle and right feel- 
ings. Hearing that the Tartars were approaching, 
he went to the cathedral, taking with him his little 
brother Youri. Ivan knelt down, and was heard 



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praying thus: ' My God, Thou who didst save one 
of my forefathers from the cruel Tamerlane, take 
us into thy holy keeping, orphans as we are ! 
Our minds are ignorant, and our arm is weak, yet 
it is to us that our country looks for deliverance ! ' 
From the church he went to the council-board, 
and discussed with his boyards the measures to be 
taken for the safety of Moscow. Happily the 
Tartars retreated without striking a blow.'" 

" Surely, papa," said Kate, " Ivan showed a 
great deal of sense and firmness for his age." 

" Ivan is described," replied Colonel Oakeley, 
"as being a remarkably clever boy, with great 
strength of purpose, and quickness in reading the 
hearts of others. Had Prince Belzky lived long 
enough to form his mind, he might perhaps have 
turned out a very fine character ; but the influence 
of the Schouiskys, who rose a second time to 
power on Belzky's downfal, was fatal to him. They 
humoured his childish whims ; they invented all 
manner of noisy games to prevent him from 
troubling his head about affairs of state ; they 
taught him to love cruel pastimes ; and, instead of 
rebuking him when he wantonly gave pain to any 
creature, they w 7 ould say, ' Be it so, since it amuses 



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177 



our sovereign lord V They allowed him to ride at 
full gallop along the streets, with a party of young 
nobles after him, terrifying and trampling down 
old people and children ; but in thus trying to 
harden Ivan's heart, they defeated their own pur- 
pose ; for when in 1534 they fell, supplanted by 
the Glinskys, he neither felt nor expressed any 
regret. 

" For ten years the Glinsky party ruled supreme 
in the name of their young kinsman. An iron 
rule theirs was ; all who displeased them were sent 
into exile, east into prison, or reduced to beggary. 
They did indeed persuade Ivan to make several 
progresses through his dominions, but his track was 
marked by blood and tears. His poorer subjects 
w r ere never allowed to come near him, nor might 
the rich approach him without first bribing his 
unworthy uncles. No gleam of comfort was left 
to the oppressed people, except in the forlorn hope 
that Ivan might gather wisdom with years, and 
one day begin to think and act for himself. 

M That day dawned at last ; Ivan had no sooner 
entered his eighteenth year than he sent for 
Macarius, Archbishop of Moscow, and held a long 
conversation alone with him. The good man left 



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CONVERSATIONS ON 



him with a face beaming with satisfaction ; after 
performing divine service at the cathedral, he col- 
lected as many boyards as were then in Moscow, 
and went back with them to the palace. After a 
while they dispersed to their homes with radiant 
faces, leaving the wondering people to guess the 
cause of this unusual stir. 

" Some days after, the whole court was ordered 
to assemble, and Ivan stood up and announced to 
Macarius in their presence his intention of speedily 
marrying. 6 My first idea/ he said, ' was to seek 
a czarina in other countries ; but on reflection I 
gave it up. An orphan from my earliest child- 
hood, and rudely nurtured, I might not be able to 
win the affection of a foreign bride, and without 
affection what prospect of happiness could there 
be ? I have, therefore, determined to seek a wife 
in Russia, by the help of God, and with your 
blessing." Macarius replied : c Prince, it is God 
Himself who has inspired you with a design tend- 
ing so much to the happiness of your people. I 
give you my blessing in his name.'' When the 
boyards had expressed their joy, Ivan further told 
them that he intended, before his marriage, to be 
solemnly crowned, as his ancestors had been, and 



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179 



that he hoped thereby to strengthen the tie be- 
tween himself and his people. 

*• The coronation took place, and it was re- 
marked that the arrangements for it were as 
unlike as possible to those made for the unhappy 
young Demetrius. The prayers, the anthems, 
the order of procession, were all different ; on the 
church steps Ivan's brother. Prince Youri, poured 
over his head a shower of gold pieces, which the 
master of the horse, Glinsky, carried in a bowl for 
the purpose. The people rushed to the place 
which their czar had occupied in church, and tore 
down the cloth with which it was hung, each 
keeping a fragment by way of remembrance. 

"Ivan was the first grand prince crowned by 
the name of Czar. * A title." observes Karamsin, 
* adds nothing to power, yet it may have a great 
effect on the imaginations of men ; and so this 
word, derived from the Bible, and carrying the 
mind back to Assyria. Egypt. Judea, and to the 
Greek emperors, added great lustre, in the eyes 
of the Eussians, to the dignity of their sovereign/ 

*' Envoys from the grand prince were sent 
through the length and breadth of the land, to 
seek out a fitting wife for their monarch. His 



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choice fell on Anastasia, the young daughter of a 
widow lady named Zakharine, whose husband had 
been about the court in the days of Ivan III. 
4 This maiden,' the annalist says, - was graced by 
every virtue that woman can be adorned with, or 
that the Russian language can express/ Beauty 
she possessed in a rare degree ; (it was thought 
indispensable in a czar's wife ;) but it is not of her 
beauty that the historians of that day speak most ; 
they dwell fondly and mournfully on her purity of 
mind, her piety, her sweetness of temper, her 
boundless charities. Though removed, as by 
magic, from her remote and quiet home to the 
whirl of a corrupt court, Anastasia never har- 
boured a thought of pride. ' She did every thing 
as to the Lord, and was as meek and lowly in 
the palace of the czars as she had been by her 
mother's quiet hearth.' The wedding was celebrated 
with due pomp, and the young couple were greeted 
with a thousand blessings as they came forth from 
the church into the presence of the assembled 
multitudes. Some days were passed in public 
rejoicings and feasts ; the nobles were loaded with 
gifts by their prince, while his lovely wife, we are 
told, made the poor her especial care." 



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181 



*• I hope Ivan is going to reform now.** ob- 
served Eliot. 4i Perhaps one could hardly expect 
him to give up his bad habits at once." said 
Colonel Oakeley ; " but it is disappointing to find 
how soon he relapsed into them. His idle, wicked 
companions came flocking about him as before ; 
his time was wasted in senseless and mischievous 
frolics : and. when thwarted, his bursts of passion 
became such as to make one suspect him of in- 
sanity. The gentle Anastasia grieved in silence 
over him, and never ceased to pray that he might 
be reclaimed ; nor was her prayer unheard. 

" The city of Moscow had always been subject 
from time to time to the ravages of fire ; but 
never since it was first built had such a conflagra- 
tion been witnessed as in the month of June. 
1547. The fire broke out no one knew how. and 
consumed shops, warehouses, and whole streets. 
It reached a powder magazine, which blew up ; a 
hig-h wind drove it on to the Kremlin, which was 
soon wrapped in flames. The whole city looked 
like a blazing funeral pile, over which hung a 
canopy of thick black smoke. The wooden build- 
ings were consumed, the stone ones laid in ruins, 
while their copper roofs, melted by the intense heat. 



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CONVERSATIONS OX 



formed burning streams. The roar of the tempest 
and crash of buildings almost drowned the shrieks 
of the despairing people., Ivan's palace, his trea- 
sures, armoury, and records, were burnt up. 
Archbishop Macarius could not be induced for 
many hours to leave his beloved Cathedral, now 
full of stifling smoke ; at length he was persuaded 
to think of his own safety, and escaped by leaping 
into the river Moskwa. Towards night the wind 
went down, and by three in the morning the fire 
was got under ; but wreaths of smoke continued 
to rise up on all sides ; and the scorched groves 
and gardens were covered with showers of cinders. 
Seventeen hundred persons, besides children, were 
ascertained to have perished ; and the survivors, 
with singed hair and blackened faces, wandered 
to and fro, seeking for their relatives or for some 
remains of their property. 6 Happy,' says the 
chronicler, ' were those to whom the power of 
shedding tears and of looking up towards heaven 
was left ! ' Unable to bear the sight of misery, 
Ivan selfishly withdrew to a country residence, 
some way off : he and his nobles took measures 
for the rebuilding of their palaces in the Kremlin ; 
but the poor inhabitants of Moscow, reduced to 



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183 



utter begfo-arv, were unable to follow their ex- 
ample, and remained homeless and forlorn. Xo 
wonder that a gloomy and seditious spirit took 
the place of their first despair ; and one of the 
boyards having asked in public whether any one 
could account for the late conflagration, thousands 
of voices replied, * It is the Glinskys ! it is the 
Glinskys ! The sorceries practised by their 
mother, the Princess Anne, have brought this fire 
upon us ! ■ One of the Glinskys was standing in 
the circle of boyards. and heard these ominous 
words ; panic-struck he fled to a church close by, 
thinking to find safety there ; but the maddened 
people pursued him, and slew him in the house of 
God. They plundered his palace, put to death 
his retainers, and the day but one after marched 
to Ivan's country-house, and insisted, with loud 
shouts and menaces, that the czar's grandmother, 
the aged Princess Anne, should be given up to 
them. Ivan ordered his troops to fire upon the 
rabble ; and the sight of guns, then little known in 
Russia, soon brought them to their senses. 

"Perhaps these fearful warnings might have been 
lost upon Ivan, had it not pleased Providence to 
impress them on his mind in a very unexpected 



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manner. An aged recluse, named Sylvester, of 
Novgorod, came to the palace, and asked an 
audience of the czar. He drew near with frown- 
ing brow, and lifted hand, like the prophets of 
old, and sternly told Ivan that the wrath of God 
was ready to fall on his head. He taxed him 
with all his vices and shameful levity, and 
ended by opening a copy of the Holy Scriptures, 
and reading aloud to him the duties of kings, and 
the reckoning they would have to give. 

" Ivan burst into tears ; he placed his hand in 
that of Sylvester, and, confessing himself to be 
4 verily guilty, 1 begged the fearless old man never 
to leave him again, but, by his advice and prayers, 
to help him to walk in the right way. He next 
turned his attention to his starving people at 
Moscow, and never rested till their dwellings were 
rebuilt, and their wants provided for. When this 
was done, he devoted a few days to self-examina- 
tion, fasting, and prayer, and strengthened his 
good resolutions by receiving the Holy Sacra- 
ment. 

u Ivan was not of a character to do things by 
halves. He commanded every city in the empire 
to send several deputies to Moscow by a certain 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



185 



day. They met in the great open square, outside 
the Kremlin ; and there, in the hearing of an 
immense multitude, their young czar addressed 
Macarius ; he deplored his past errors in words that 
would have touched a heart of stone. 1 1 have been 
like one deaf and dumb," he said, 'during the 
whole of my unhappy childhood; for I turned 
away my ear from the cry of the afflicted, and 
spoke no word of comfort to relieve their misery.' 
He spoke with great severity of the boyards who 
had abused their power; then turning to the 
people, and bowing low in all directions, he added, 
4 you w T hom the Almighty has entrusted to me, 
I appeal to-day to your religion and your loyalty ! 
Show yourselves generous : the evil that is past 
cannot be undone; but, believe me, I will shield 
you henceforth from wrong and robbery : from 
this day I will be your protector and judge.' Ivan 
then proclaimed a general pardon for all political 
offences ; he appointed a young nobleman of ex- 
cellent character, named Adachef, to receive all 
petitions, and inquire into all cases of distress ; 
he dismissed the wicked boyards who had op- 
pressed the people, and recalled such of his father's 



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counsellors as had escaped the vengeance of the 
Glinskys. He kept Sylvester near him, to tell 
him of his faults, and help him to correct them, 
— an office which the disinterested old man fear- 
lessly yet kindly fulfilled. 

" And now followed several golden years for 
Russia, and for the czar himself, whose domestic 
happiness and love for the gentle Anastasia in- 
creased daily. A truce with Sigismund Augustus, 
King of Poland, and some successful skirmishes 
with the Khan of Crimea, ensured tranquillity to 
Russia, and left Ivan at liberty to reform internal 
abuses. He was shocked at the general ignorance 
and backwardness of his people in all the arts of 
civilized life ; and he applied to Charles V. of 
Germany for permission to invite some of his 
subjects to Moscow. Great difficulties were made 
in consenting to this request, but at length Ivan 
gained his point ; and more than a hundred 
artisans, printers, medical men, apothecaries, and 
workmen of different trades, were smuggled pri- 
vately into the czar's dominions. 

"I must now relate to you the events of the year 
1553. Look in the map, Eliot, and you will find 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



187 



the city of Kazan. It stands in the province of the 
same name, a few miles only from the Volga, and 
watered by the Kazanka, a stream which falls 
into that river. It is surrounded by plains, except 
on the side of the little town of Arsk, between 
which and Kazan stretched at that time a dense 
forest. The city was well fortified, and had a 
strong citadel. It was the only place of note in 
Eussia that remained in the hands of Tartars ; 
and its inhabitants had long been objects of dread 
and hatred to the grand princes. Since Ivan's 
accession, they had repeatedly attacked and plun- 
dered his territory, and broken the most solemn 
treaties of peace ; and now they had expelled Aly. 
their rightful khan, on account of his attachment 
to Eussia : so Ivan resolved, with the sanction of 
his counsellors, to march against their stronghold, 
and destroy this robbers' nest entirely. 

" It was in June that he left Moscow, and took 
leave of the czarina. Her firmness forsook her as 
she saw him about to depart, and she gave free 
course to her grief. But Ivan reminded her that 
his first duty was to his country, and that he 
must be content to die for her if needful ; he then 



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tenderly commended his wife to God, and bade 
her in his absence seek out and relieve the poor 
and suffering. 

u 4 Be diligent in works of mercy," he said, ' till 
I return. I leave thee full power to remit fines, 
to set prisoners free : use thy discretion in these 
matters, and the Most High will accept thy deeds 
of love and mine of valour.*' Anastasia knelt 
down and prayed aloud that Heaven would bless 
her warrior, and grant him health and a glorious 
triumph, and she rose up comforted, and parted 
from him without a tear. At Toula, on the way 
to Kazan, Ivan fell in with a band of Crimean 
plunderers; he detached 15,000 men, under 
a boyard of the valiant and honourable family 
of Kourbsky, to attack them, and the Tar- 
tars were completely defeated. Prince Kourb- 
sky received two severe wounds. Ivan sent the 
czarina a letter, with the account of this fray ; and 
some camels and prisoners they had taken. After 
a long, harassing march, the fatigues of which Ivan 
fully shared, the army reached Kazan in the 
middle of August, and encamped, more than 
100,000 strong, in the broad meadows which skirt 



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189 




the Volga. The palaces, mosques, and oak ram- 
parts of the city lay before them, and the citadel 
looked frowningly from the top of the hill on which 
it stood. The plain between this hill and the 
river had lately been overflowed, and looked like a 
carpet of the brightest green. 

" A refugee from the town, named Kamai, made 
his way to Ivan, and was graciously received. He 
told the czar that the garrison was plentifully fur- 



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nished with arms and provisions, that it consisted 
of 30,000 regular troops, and 2000 Tartars of the 
Nogai tribe ; and that a strong body of cavalry was 
waiting behind the forest of Arsk, to harass the 
Russians by frequent attacks, when wearied or off 
their guard. These tidings were of use to Ivan in 
the disposition of his army. He posted the main 
body between Kazan and Arsk ; his right wing on 
the banks of the Kazanka, his left not far from a 
spot called the Czar's Meadow, which he himself 
occupied ; he strictly forbade any officer to engage 
in action without an order from himself. Three 
tents were erected separate from the others, to 
serve as temporary churches, and service was 
duly performed there. Over Ivan's tent floated 
the black standard of Demetrius of the Don. 

" Ivan had repeatedly sent offers of peace to the 
people of Kazan, and he now renewed these offers 
for the last time, but received in reply an insulting 
message, which ended thus, ' All is ready; we only 
wait your coming to begin the revel.' 

" The city, as they drew near it, appeared to be 
quite deserted ; not a voice was heard, not a single 
figure could be descried on the walls, and many of 
the Russians began to think the Tartars had forsaken 



THE HISTORY OF EUSSIA. 



191 



it at the last moment, and taken refuge in the 
depths of the forest. But Ivan suspected a snare, 
and advanced all the more warily. Seven thousand 
Cossacks and Strelitzers (a sort of body-guard to 
the czar) marched over a newly-erected bridge 
across the muddy waters of the river, and approached 
the fortress. Suddenly loud yells were heard from 
within, the massive gates rolled back on their 
hinges, and 15,000 Tartars, horse and foot, 
rushed forth and burst upon the Christians. 
They fought some hours; at last Ivan's troops 
drove them back with heavy loss. It was the first 
time the Russian army had ever besieged a city 
according to the rules of modern warfare, and 
Ivan was much pleased with the obedience both of 
his officers and men, who, though longing to join 
in the action, did not move hand or foot without 
his orders. 

" That night so violent a storm arose that many 
tents, Ivan's among the number, were torn in 
pieces, and some boats, laden with provisions, sank. 
It was feared that want of food would oblige the 
Russians to raise the siege ; but Ivan, with great 
energy, sent to Moscow and other towns for meat, 
flour, and w 7 arm clothing for the soldiers, and made 



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all preparations for passing the winter under the 
walls of Kazan. 

" It would be tedious to tell you of the sallies 
and skirmishes which took place daily through the 
month of August. The Tartars encamped behind 
the forest of Arsk were a continual thorn in Ivan's 
side. Many brave officers and he himself ran much 
risk in his gallant efforts to drive the enemy back. 
Early in September, he once more offered peace 
to Edigea, the usurping chief of Kazan, and his 
herald was accompanied by a number of prisoners, 
who begged their fellow-townsmen to have pity on 
them, and for their sake accept Ivan's terms. The 
garrison thus replied to the herald : 4 It is better 
our brethren should die by our hands than by 
yours ; ? and so saying, they discharged flights of 
arrows at the devoted captives, and killed them on 
the spot. We read that Ivan was horror-struck 
at this barbarity : alas ! the day was not far off 
when he himself learned to commit as cruel deeds 
without shuddering. 

" Kamai brought the intelligence that water was 
becoming scarce in Kazan, and that the little to 
be had was procured from a spring near the 
Kazanka, to which the besieged made their way 



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193 



by a passage under ground. This passage Ivan 
resolved to blow up, and he employed a German 
engineer to dig a mine beneath it. It took ten 
days to do this, and the sappers could distinctly 
hear the sound of footsteps over head, as the 
Tartars went to and fro to fetch water. Eleven 
barrels of gunpowder were placed in the mine, and 
fired on the 5th of September. A fearful explosion 
took place, and shattered part of the w r all, besides 
destroying the covered way; stones, beams, and 
other fragments fell into the town, and filled 
the inhabitants with mortal terror. Many 
of them now wished to surrender, but they 
were overruled by the bolder spirits. A little 
spring of unwholesome water w r as found to slake 
their thirst ; after a while, all who drank of it were 
attacked with dreadful illness, and swelled up to a 
great size. While they were suffering the miseries 
of want, Ivan's army was restored to the enjoy- 
ment of plenty by taking the town of Arsk, and 
thus gaining free access to the fertile countrv 
beyond. Violent rains now set in, and greatly 
hindered the operations of the besiegers. It is 
curious that Prince Kourbsky, a valiant warrior, 
and a shrewd, sensible man, who wrote the history 

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of this campaign, does not scruple to ascribe these 
rains to the spells of Tartar magicians. He says, 
6 They used to stand each morning on the walls of 
the citadel at sunrise, and, by their unhallowed 
words and gestures, invoke the spirit of the storm 
to come to their aid against the Russians." Fine 
weather returned, and enabled Ivan to complete 
his preparations for a general attack. He was 
attending the early service at daybreak on the 1st 
of October, when an awful explosion was heard, 
and shook the tent in which he was worshipping. 
The deacon, who was reading the lesson for the 
day, stopped short at these words, 6 There shall be 
one fold and one Shepherd. 1 All present ran out 
of the tent, and beheld a cloud of smoke, shrouding 
the town and citadel from their sight. The czar 
returned to his devotions, and the service was 
resumed ; but some minutes after, a second crash 
was heard, and then a shout from the whole 
Russian army, 6 God is for us. 1 And now the 
attack began in good earnest ; the Russians 
marched up to the wall, under a tremendous dis- 
charge of musketry, arrows, and stones. When 
they attempted to scale it, the Tartars rolled 
down enormous beams upon them, and dashed 



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195 



boiling water in their faces ; but they rose superior 
to fear, made their way up the ladders, clung to 
the battlements, or to their comrades 1 shoulders, and 
sprang into the town. In a few minutes Ivan, 
who was riding up to the walls with his staff, saw 
the Christian standard planted on the citadel. 

" But the struggle was not yet over. The Tar- 
tars, now quite desperate, fought with the Russians 
in the narrow streets, and disputed every inch of 
ground. Edigea himself, with the flower of his 
warriors, retreated sullenly from the breach, and 
took possession of the fortified palace of the khans. 
He saw with pleasure that the discipline of the 
Russians was giving way. The sight of rich 
warehouses, filled with all the treasures of the 
East, was more than the soldiers could resist ; 
many of the officers yielded to temptation, and of 
the small number who remained true to honour 
and to duty, many were faint and bleeding from 
their wounds. 

" Edigea saw this, and lost not a moment in 
pouncing upon them ; they gave way, and were 
driven back to the walls. Ivan thought that all 
was lost, and seizing the sacred standard he nobly 
rode up to the Royal Grate (as it was called), calling 
o 2 

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on his cavalry to follow him. At the gate they 
dismounted, and entered the town with their daz- 
zling armour, and plumed helmets. Several of 
Ivan's counsellors, old white-headed nobles, forgot 
their age and feebleness, and fought by the side of 
their sons. Edigea had a second time entered the 
khan's palace, where he defended himself for up- 
wards of an hour. The doors were broken open, 
and the astonished Russians saw before them the 
wives and daughters of their foes, all decked out 
in their richest apparel, and left to the mercy 
of their conquerors. Edigea and 10,000 Tar- 
tars meanwhile retreated by a postern gate, 
which brought them into the lower part of the 
town. Here Prince Kourbsky, with only 200 
warriors, met and drove them back. The Tartar 
soldiers obliged Edigea to take refuge in a tower, 
and then asked leave to capitulate. 

" c Listen,' they said to Prince Kourbsky. c Kazan 
is yours ; we give up our khan alive and unhurt 
into your hands ; lead him to your czar ; as for us, 
we will spend what remains to us of life in fight- 
ing against you.' They fulfilled this threat, and 
almost to a man fell in ' the imminent deadly 
breach.' 



THE HISTOEY OF RUSSIA. 



197 



" And now the city was Ivan's, and his warriors 
gathered round him, under the shadow of the 
sacred banner, and sang a Te Dewn. Edigea was 
led into his presence, and greeted by him with 
these words. ; Unhappy man ! didst thou not 
know the power of Russia, and the treacherous 
nature of the people of Kazan V Encouraged by 
his mildness. Edigea knelt down, expressed his 
contrition, and asked for pardon, which the czar 
granted. That evening Ivan entered the city in 
triumph. The most welcome sight that met his 
eyes was a band of Russians, who had languished 
for years in the dungeons of Kazan, and now 
hailed him with rapture as their deliverer. He 
looked with deep sorrow on the heaps of slain that 
choked up the streets, and pointing to some Tartar 
corpses said. * If they are not fellow-Christians, 
they are at least fellow-men.' The booty was 
divided equally amongst the army ; Ivan refusing 
any share in it except the crown, sceptre, national 
flag, and cannons of the place. 

" From this time Kazan became a part of the 
Russian empire. A boyard was appointed to be 
governor, and a strong garrison was left under 
his command. Ivan built several churches ; and 



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Macarius, soon after, sent a bishop and some clergy 
there. After a few more faint struggles, the 
Tartars resigned all thoughts of independence, and 
became peaceable and industrious subjects of the 
czar. 

" Ivan left Kazan early in October, and embarked 
on the Volga. The people of Nijne Novgorod 
hailed him with delight, and thanked him for free- 
ing them from the tyranny of the khans of Kazan. 

" From Nijne Novgorod he rode to Moscow. 
On the way, a messenger met him with the joyful 
tidings that the czarina had given birth to a son. 
With his usual impetuosity, he sprang from his 
horse, clasped the astonished messenger in his arms, 
and, having nothing else at the moment to give, 
bestowed upon him his royal mantle and his horse. 

" Ivan's entrance into Moscow was quite a tri- 
umph ; but dearer to his heart was the moment in 
which he sought Anastasia's chamber, and received 
his infant son from her arms. As he entered, she 
came forward to welcome him, we are told, and 
sank at his feet overpowered with delight and 
thankfulness. 

" In 1553, we first perceive a change for the 
worse in the character of Ivan. He was seized 



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199 



with a dangerous illness, which brought him to 
the verge of the grave. While lying, to all ap- 
pearance, in a hopeless state, he summoned the 
boyards, and commanded them to take the oath of 
allegiance to his infant son. To his great sur- 
prise, several of them demurred. 6 Who, then, 
do you mean to choose for your czar ? 5 he asked, in 
a failing voice. 4 1 am too w T eak to speak long ; 
but I would remind you that Demetrius, though 
in his cradle, is your lawful monarch ; if you reject 
him, you will have to answer for it before God." 
Still the boyards shrank back ; the fact was, that 
they remembered with horror the last regency, 
that of Helen Glinsky, and dreaded the possibility 
of such another. Bather than incur this risk, 
many of them were minded to raise Prince Vladi- 
mir, Ivan's uncle, to the throne, and set aside the 
baby prince altogether. The idea w 7 as scarcely to 
be blamed, for till the days of Demetrius of the 
Don such had frequently been the order of suc- 
cession ; but it is not surprising that Ivan felt deep 
annoyance at it ; and when, contrary to all expecta- 
tion, he recovered, we find a degree of harshness 
in his character, of which for the last six years 
there had been no trace. 



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" Anastasia, too, was very much hurt at the 
slight shown to her little son. She did not com- 
plain openly, or quarrel with the refractory boyards, 
but she withdrew her confidence from them, and 
from the aged Sylvester, who was thought to 
have adopted their views. Thus arose the little 
cloud, 4 no bigger than a man's hand,' which was 
to envelop all Russia in darkness and storm. 

" Not many days after, the infant that had been 
the innocent cause of so much strife died, to the 
infinite grief of its parents. 

" In 1554 Ivan added to his dominions the pro- 
vince of Astrakhan, inhabited chiefly by Nogay 
Tartars; they surrendered almost without a strug- 
gle to the czar : he himself headed the expedition, 
and, in so doing, passed close to the ancient 
city of the Golden Horde, Saray, now a heap of 
ruins. 

" Hitherto Russia and England had had no deal- 
ings with one another; but a singular accident 
brought them into close connexion during this 
reign. Not long before the death of Edward VI., 
three British vessels were equipped and sent on 
a voyage of discovery into the Frozen Ocean, 
under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby and 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



201 



Richard Chancellor. Two of these ships were 
wrecked on the north coast of Russia. WiflougMby 
perished with cold, as did all his crew ; and it- was 
not till the year after that his stiffened remains 
were discovered by some fishermen. He was found 
seated in a miserable hut, with his journal open 
before him. Chancellor fared better ; he entered 
the White Sea without any accident, and landed 
at the mouth of the Dwina, on the spot where 




ARCHANGEL. 



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CONVERSATIONS ON 



Archangel now stands. The governor of the 
province received him kindly, and forwarded to 
the czar a letter which Chancellor brought from 
the King of England, in which he expressed a 
wish for friendly intercourse between the two 
nations. Ivan immediately sent for Chancellor 
and his crew to Moscow, received them most 
graciously, and caused King Edward's letter to be 
read aloud in their presence. He wrote a courteous 
reply to it, which Chancellor was charged to deliver 
on his return home. 

" Edward VI. died, as you know, that year ; but 
Queen Mary expressed great satisfaction, when 
the czar's letter was translated to her. Chan- 
cellor's return caused much excitement in London. 
Every one was eager to know what his adventures 
had been. He gave a glowing account of the 
splendour of Ivan's court ; of the young czar him- 
self, seated on a golden throne, with a diadem 
blazing with gems on his head, and of a banquet 
given to him by Ivan, in which one hundred guests 
were feasted with plates and drinking- vessels of 
gold ! Queen Mary sent Chancellor back to 
Russia in 1555 to conclude a commercial treaty 
with Ivan ; he had the satisfaction of finding him- 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



203 



self a second time at the czar's dinner-table, and 
of hearing that monarch propose the health of his 
; dearest sister, Queen Mary.' A number of 
English merchants formed themselves into what 
is called the 'Russian Company.' They built a 
large factory at the mouth of the Dwina; imported 
cloth, sugar, and other articles into Russia, and 
soon established a flourishing trade. Archangel 
became a place of consequence, and continued such 
till the beginning of the eighteenth century, when 
part of its trade was transferred to St. Petersburg. 
In 1556 Ivan sent an ambassador, named Nepei'a, 
to England, charged with presents to Queen 
Mary. He was charmed with his reception ; and 
mentions amongst the objects best worth seeing 
in London, Westminster Abbey, Old St. Paul's, 
the Tower, and the Guildhall. In return for the 
sables which he offered in his sovereign's name 
to Queen Mary, she sent to the czar a lion and 
lioness, as well as some specimens of cutlery and 
of the finest cloth. 

" Nepei'a took back with him in 1557 several 
artisans, miners, and physicians. 

"The year 1558 was remarkable for a quarrel 
between Ivan and the Livonian Knights, the old 



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enemies of Russia. Ivan sent an army into 
Livonia, under his uncle, Michael Glinsky, and 
some other boyards. They took Narva, Dorpt, 
and some other towns, and disgraced themselves 
by such an excess of cruelty and rapacity, that the 
Livonians exclaimed, 6 It would have fared better 
with our country had the Tartars invaded us ! 1 
At the earnest intercession of Augustus, King of 
Poland, and Gustavus Vasa, of Sweden, Ivan con- 
sented to a truce ; but it was soon broken, and 
war recommenced in 1560. 

" All this time Ivan was gradually withdrawing 
his confidence from his true friends, Sylvester and 
Adachef, and bestowing it on less worthy objects. 
We read that one of his new counsellors said to 
him, ' If you would be a truly great monarch, be 
guided by your own will alone, and scorn to seek 
counsel from others ; you are made to dictate, 
not to be dictated to.' This suggestion found 
ready entrance into Ivan's mind ; and he answered 
eagerly, 6 My own father could not have spoken 
more wisely ! ' 

" 4 And now,' says Karamsin, ' while the strong 
arm of the czar was crushing Livonia, Heaven 
sent an awful calamity on him and Russia.'' 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



205 



" For thirteen years he had enjoyed perfect hap- 
piness in the society of his gentle Anastasia. The 
loss of their infant son had been their only domestic 
sorrow ; and for that they had been comforted by 
the birth of three fair children in the course of the 
next six years. 

" In June, 1560, Anastasia first complained of 
slight illness. A fire having broken out near the 
Kremlin, her husband had her removed to one of 
his country-houses. He then returned to the 
capital, and exerted himself, with all the wild 
energy of his character, to put out the flames. 
Animated by his example, the boyards threw 
themselves into the burning streets, pulled down 
houses, and carried water up to the roofs. It was 
some days before the fire could be got under : 
meantime Anastasia remained in a state of intense 
anxiety, which greatly increased her illness ; fatal 
symptoms showed themselves, and in six weeks 
she died. The despair of Ivan baffles description ; 
'and,' says Karamsin, 'the grief of the people 
knew no bounds.'* Not the court only, but the 
whole town of Moscow followed the body of their 
czarina to its last home. All wept; but none 
more bitterly than the poor and indigent, who 



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cried out that they had lost in her a mother. 
They all refused to accept the alms distributed as 
usual near the coffin, saying that money could not 
atone for their loss. 

u Ivan, supported by his brother Youri, and his 
cousin Vladimir, slowly followed the coffin, his 
frantic gestures giving evidence of his grief. No 
one dared speak of comfort to him but Macarius, 
whose own tears were flowing fast. 

" Thus ended the happy days of Ivan and Russia ! 
He now turned his back on the right path, and 
proceeded with fearfully rapid strides along the 
downward road." 



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207 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Change in Ivan's character — Death of Adachef, 1560 — Livonian 
Order abolished, 1561 — Ivan's cruelties — Correspondence with 
Queen Elizabeth — Heroism and death of Philip of Solovetzky 
— Moscow burnt by the Crimean Tartars, 1571 — Stephen 
Bathory elected King of Poland, 1573 — Discovery of Siberia by 
the Cossacks under Jerniak, 1582-1584 — Murder of the Czaro- 
witch, 1582 — Ivan treats with Queen Elizabeth for the hand of 
Lady Mary Hastings, 1583 — His death, 1584 — Accession of 
Feodor — Riot at Moscow — Description of Feodor — Death of 
Stephen Bathory, 1587 — Absolute power of Boris Godounof — 
His ambition — Mysterious fate of the Czarowitch Demetrius, 
1592— Treaty with Sweden, 1595— Death of Feodor, 1598— 
House of Ruric extinct. 

" Ivan had reached the age of thirty when he lost 
his wife. During thirteen years he had ruled 
Russia wisely and well; and though, as I told 
you yesterday, a rude and stubborn will was be- 
ginning to show itself, yet there had been no open 
act of tyranny to alarm his subjects. Historians 
speak of him at this time in terms of high praise. 
An English writer says, 4 This emperour useth 



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great familiaritie, as well unto all his nobles and 
subjects, as also to strangers. His pleasure is 
that they shall dine oft times in his presence. 
He is not onely beloved of his nobles and com- 
mons, but had in great dreade and feare through 
all his dominions ; so that I thinke no prince in 
Christendome is more feared of his owne than hee 
is, nor yet better beloved. If hee bid any of his 
dukes goe, they runne ! Hee delighteth not greatly 
in hunting, hawking, or any other pastime, nor in 
hearing instruments of musicke, but setting his 
whole delighte on two things, — ho we to serve 
God, and how to conquere his enemies.' An 
Italian, who was in Ivan's service, describes him 
as 'beautiful both in mind and body;' and we 
are told that the most perfect harmony always 
reigned in the palace, where Ivan's brother Youri 
and his wife Juliana lived happily with the czar 
and czarina. A growing coldness towards Syl- 
vester and his friend Adachef was the first evil 
symptom that Ivan displayed. It became so 
evident, that they were both advised to leave the 
court ; and they did so. Their enemies gladly 
seized this opportunity of completing their ruin ; 
but so blameless had their conduct been, that the 



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209 



accusation of dealing in magic was the only one 
that could be brought against them. Adachef, 
indeed, was accused of treason, because he had 
tried, in the presence of the council, to dissuade 
Ivan from his unjust attack on Livonia. 4 Why,* 
he exclaimed. 8 should we turn our arms against 
our fellow- Christians, while so many infidels re- 
main unsubdued V But this accusation fell to 
the ground ; for every one knew that as soon as 
Ivan had decided on war. Adachef had been the 
first to carry out his intentions, and that no one 
had fought more bravelv than he through the 
whole campaign. So the charge of conspiring 
against Ivan, and of actually shortening the life 
of Anastasia by sorcery, was preferred against him 
and Sylvester ; and. in spite of the remonstrances 
of Maearius. they were condemned to perpetual 
exile without a hearing. 

" The place of banishment chosen for Sylvester 
was the monastery of Solovetzky, an island in the 
White Sea. In this wild spot, exposed to freezing 
blasts from the North Pole, and often surrounded 
by drifting icebergs, the old man closed his blame- 
less life. As for Adachef, he was shut up in 

p 



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the fortress of Dorpt, which his own valour had 
helped Ivan to conquer. There he died two 
months after : he left little behind him, except an 
unblemished name, for his whole fortune had been 
spent upon the poor. In his prosperous days he 
had fitted up part of his palace as a hospital, and 
there received and tenderly nursed a certain 
number of incurable patients. 

" Ivan's next act almost makes one believe that 
he must have been insane. After distributing 
several thousands of silver roubles among the 
poor, in memory of the czarina, and sending rich 
offerings in her name to J erusalem and Greece, 
he suddenly flung away all appearance of sorrow. 
He assembled the boyards, and announced to 
them his intention of asking for the hand of Catha- 
rine, Princess of Poland. All signs of mourning 
were now at an end; the palace, where three 
weeks before a death-like silence reigned, now 
rang with sounds of revelry. New games, new 
pastimes were daily invented, in which the decorum 
and sobriety of days gone by were laughed at. 
Intoxication became the order of the day; and 
such of the boyards as looked sternly on, and 



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211 



pushed away the foaming tankard, were driven 
out of the palace with scorn and hisses. But this 
was not all. Vice, open and unblushing, led on to 
cruelty. Ivan's wicked companions pointed out 
to him the demeanour of the good and high- 
minded amongst his nobles. ' Look at those 
stern, grave faces,' they said ; 4 those men are 
plotting against you : they are treading in the 
steps of Adachef.' 

" Ivan drank in the poison thus offered to him; 
and, maddened by the fear of conspiracies against 
his life, he began a series of cruel and savage acts, 
such as we should refuse to believe, were there 
not the strongest evidence of their truth. I do 
not think that the gloomiest tyrants I have read 
of, in ancient or modern history, equal him in the 
number or greatness of their crimes. Louis XI. 
of France had some compunctious visitings ; this 
man had none. 

" There is the Emperor Nero, papa," said Eliot ; 
" Ivan could scarcely be worse than he was !*" 

" Nero was a heathen." answered Colonel Oake- 
ley, " and had only the light of nature and con- 
science to guide him. Of Ivan we are told that 
he knew much of the Bible by heart, and would 



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quote it in conversation, and even try to justify 
his worst actions by wresting its holy words to 
some other meaning than their real one. 

" You remember, do you not, how superstitious 
Louis XI. was, and how he wore little leaden 
images of saints in his hat ? In this respect Ivan 
resembled him, and he who had no scruple in 
shedding rivers of innocent blood, could not be 
induced to eat a morsel of meat throughout Lent, 
I mean to dwell as briefly as possible on the recital 
of Ivan's crimes, and to relieve the dreary detail 
by telling you of the Christian patience and hero- 
ism of some of his victims. It chanced that Prince 
Repnin, a noble boyard, was present at a scanda- 
lous scene in the palace, and found his sovereign 
masked, and indulging in long draughts of intoxi- 
cating mead. He stood by, and wept in silence. 
Ivan approached, and tried to persuade him to join 
the revel ; but dashing to the ground the mask 
which was offered him, Prince Repnin exclaimed, 
6 Does it befit the majesty of the czar to disguise 
himself as a mountebank ? as for me, who am but 
his counsellor, I should blush thus to act the 
madman ! , Ivan drove him from his presence ; 
and some days after Repnin was stabbed while 



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213 



kneeling at his devotions. Another boyard, 
named Scheremetieff, was thrown into prison on 
some groundless charge. The czar went to visit 
him there, and said haughtily, 4 Where are thy 
treasures ? thou art said to be rich.' 4 My trea- 
sures, prince," replied the boyard, 4 have long since 
been conveyed to the safe keeping of Christ, my 
Saviour, through the hands of his poor.' 

44 Such were the men on whom Ivan's fury at 
first fell ; but by degrees he became more indis- 
criminate in his cruelties, and bad and good alike 
suffered. He collected a band of spies, whose 
office it was to creep into every house, and report 
all that they saw and heard to the czar. Of 
course they had no scruple in inventing crimes 
where they could not discover any, and on the 
accusation of these wretches thousands of harm- 
less men and women were dragged to prison, tried, 
and put to death. 

44 Let us turn for a few minutes to foreign affairs. 
In 1561 the Order of the Livonian Knights ceased 
to exist. It had long been in a decaying state, 
and now felt itself unable to stand the frequent 
attacks of Eussia and other neighbouring states. 
Its grand master, by name Ketler, sought the pro- 



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tection of Sigismund Augustus of Poland, and 
obtained from him favourable terms for himself 
and his knights. Livonia was united to Poland, 
and Ketler obtained the Duchy of Oourland to be 
held as a fief under Sigismund and his successors. 
Ivan was much offended at these arrangements, 
and also at the contempt with which his request 
for the Princess Catharine's hand was treated. 
He declared war against Sigismund, and entered 
Lithuania in the winter of 1562 with an enormous 
army. Historians assert that its number amounted 
to 280,000 fighting men, besides 80,000 to convey 
and guard the baggage. This vast force rushed 
upon Lithuania so suddenly, that Sigismund, who 
was in Poland at the time, w r ould not credit the 
first tidings of its approach. In J anuary the czar 
himself laid siege to Polotsk, and in February it 
surrendered, to his great joy. He immediately 
added the name of Grand Prince of Polotsk to 
his other titles, and returned in high spirits to 
Moscow. 

" Ivan had married some months before a Tar- 
tar princess, whose only recommendation was her 
beauty. She had been brought up in heathenism, 
but was instructed in the doctrines of Christianity, 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



215 



and baptized by the name of Mary before her 
marriage. She was wilful and passionate, and 
incapable of obtaining any influence over the mind 
of Ivan ; like her predecessor she died early. 

" It is affecting to read that in his less hardened 
moods he looked back wistfully to the 4 golden 
past," and never failed year by year to send rich 
offerings to the charities which Anastasia had be- 
friended. His brother Youri, a prince of weak 
intellect but gentle temper, died in 1563, and his 
widow, Juliana, retired for ever from the polluted 
court. 

" Archbishop Macarius died the same year, worn 
out, as he himself says, with the cares of office. 
He was a truly good man, but of an anxious, fear- 
ful disposition, not fitted to cope with so bloody a 
tyrant as Ivan. It was by his request that the 
czar caused the Acts of the Apostles and the 
whole of the Epistles to be printed at his new 
press in Moscow; copies of them are still pre- 
served, and the paper and type are said to be very 
beautiful. The German printers whom Ivan had 
imported several years before taught their art to 
the Russians ; and a few years later the whole 
Bible was published in their language. 



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" We are told in Holy Scripture that c oppres- 
sion maketh a wise man mad.' This truth was 
painfully shown in the case of Prince Kourbsky, 
the brave warrior whose exploits at the siege of 
Kazan you heard of yesterday. It came to his 
ears that Ivan was plotting his death, and he who 
never flinched from the enemy in battle was seized 
with terror, and made his escape by night. He 
reached Wolmar, in Livonia, safely; and from 
that place addressed to Ivan a letter so awful in its 
severity, yet so calm and temperate in its tone, that 
the tyrant must have trembled as he read it. All 
was well so far ; but unhappily Kourbsky was won 
over by King Sigismund's gifts and caresses, and 
in an evil hour consented to take arms against his 
own country. 

" One day in December, 1564, great surprise 
was excited in Moscow by the sight of a number 
of sledges collected within the Kremlin. They 
were laden by the czar's servants with quantities 
of gold and silver plate, rich dresses, and other 
articles of value. The czar himself next appeared, 
and mounted his own sledge, accompanied by the 
czarina and his two sons. The whole train set out, 
and after a long and dangerous journey, and many 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



217 



delays caused by a sudden thaw, they reached the 
village of Alexandrovsky. It is a gloomy spot, 
situated in the midst of pine forests in the province 
of Vladimir ; the czar possessed a fortified house 
there, surrounded by a ditch and rampart. From 
this place he wrote to his boyards a letter full of 
bitter complaints of their ; avarice and perfidy,' 
and he told them that, disgusted with their con- 
duct, he had forsaken Moscow for ever. This 
intelligence filled all hearts w T ith dismay ; for in a 
despotic state like that of Russia the absence of 
the monarch threw every thing into confusion ; 
business was at a standstill, and crime and law- 
lessness were unchecked. The boyards thought 
that the very worst sort of government would be 
better than no government at all. So they sent 
messenger after messenger to Ivan, to entreat him 
to return. For two months he obstinately re- 
fused to listen to them. At last he consented to 
revisit his capital, but on condition that he should 
have full power to punish 4 all traitors ' with death 
or exile, 4 without any interference on the part of 
the clergy." 

" This last clause shows that the clergy had not 



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forgotten the words of the fearless Vassian, fi It is 
our duty to speak truth to kings it proves, too, 
that remorse was gnawing at Ivan's heart, though 
he was too proud to acknowledge it. 

" He made a solemn entry into Moscow in 
February, 1565. The first glance at his face 
filled every beholder with amazement. Historians 
describe him, when in the prime of life, as tall and 
well made, with beautiful hair, grey eyes, not large 
but sparkling, and a countenance rather pleasing 
than otherwise. Now he was so changed that his 
subjects scarcely knew him again. A settled 
ferocity lowered in every feature ; his eyes were 
sunk deep in his head, and his hair had nearly all 
fallen off. After a long, rambling speech, he an- 
nounced to the boyards that his own safety, as 
well as that of the state, demanded that he should 
dismiss his old attendants, and form a new guard 
about his person. For this purpose he chose a 
thousand men from the families most subservient 
to his will, and gave them the name of the 
4 €^^1™^,' or chosen legion. That name is 
remembered with horror in Russia to this day. 
Ivan took a great dislike to his palace in the 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



219 



Kremlin, and built another outside its walls, which 
he fortified as strongly as if it had been a citadel. 
The streets round it were occupied by his new 
guard, and the palace and streets together received 
the name of the £ Quarter of the Oprichnina. 1 

" Even here Ivan did not feel himself safe. His 
legion, which was composed of spies and men of 
the worst character, brought him daily reports of 
fresh conspiracies ; the supposed conspirators were 
hurried to prison and condemned to death by hun- 
dreds at a time, and to use the historian's phrase, 
• the streets of Moscow ran down with blood.' 
When wearied with carnage, Ivan went back to 
his forest dwelling at Alexandrovsky, as a wild 
beast returns to its lair. 

" Russia was threatened at this time with a 
fresh danger from without. Solyman the Magni- 
ficent, the famous sultan of the Turks, looked with 
longing eyes at the provinces of Kazan and Astra- 
khan, so lately added to the Russian dominions. 
He formed a plan for conquering them, and for 
uniting the rivers Don and Volga by a canal ; by 
so doing he hoped to get the whole trade of the 
East into his own hands. Happily this plan was 
stopped by the determined opposition of the Khan 



220 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



of Crimea, who was wise enough to foresee that 
Turkey would prove a more dangerous neighbour 
than Russia had been. 

" Amid all his excesses Ivan was not unmindful 
of public business ; he protected trade, and showed 
great kindness to foreigners, especially to the 
English. Our nation stood high in his good graces, 
and he delighted in receiving honied letters from 
Queen Elizabeth, and answering them in the same 
high-flown style. Anthony J enkinson made no less 
than three journeys to Russia in the queen's ser- 
vice, and so pleased was Ivan with his zeal and 
discretion, that he sent him to the Schah of Persia 
on some secret business of his own. On one occa- 
sion there was a coolness between Russia and 
England. Ivan complained that the English mer- 
chants put too high a price on their wares ; and he 
allowed Thomas Randolph, Elizabeth's ambassador, 
to remain four months at Moscow without being 
presented at court. At last he summoned Ran- 
dolph to appear before him, but sent no carriages 
for him or his suite. He also forbade his courtiers 
to doff their hats when he entered the presence 
chamber. Randolph seeing this looked sternly at the 
assembled nobles, and put on his own hat again. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



221 



This bold conduct, so far from displeasing the 
czar, actually gained his favour, and he assured 
Eandolph of the affection he bore to his ' dear 
sister Elizabeth,' and readily granted all her 
demands. There is a very curious letter of Eliza- 
beth's, preserved in the Record Office at St. 
Petersburg, I believe. It is in answer to one 
from Ivan, in which it appears he requested her to 
give him a shelter in her dominions, in case of his 
being obliged to flee from his own. She prudently 
answers thus : 4 To the deare, most mightie and 
puissant Prince, our brother, great Lord Emperor, 
and great Duke Ivan Easily (Basilowitch) of all 
Russia. — If at any time it so mishappe that you 
be by any casual chance of secret conspiracy or 
outward hostility driven to change your countrie, 
and schall like to repaire into our kingdome, with 
the noble empresse, your wife, and your deare 
children, we shall with such honour and courtesies 
receave and entreate your highness and them, as 
shall befit so great a prince .... and it may be 
lawful to you to use your Christian religion in such 
sorte, as it shall best like you, for. we mean not to 
intermeddle anie waies with your highness' faith 
and religion .... Besides we shall appoint you 



222 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



a place in our kingdome, fitt upon your own charge 
(that is to say, at the czar's own expense), as long 
as you like to remain. . . . This we promise by 
virtue of this our letter, and the word of a Chris- 
tian prince. In witness whereof we Queen Eliza- 
beth do subscribe this with our owne hand, in the 
presence of these our nobles and counsellors — 
Nicholas Bacon, Knight, Great Chancellor of our 
realme of England, Henry, Earle of Arundel," 
&c. Then follows, 6 Cecill, Knight, our Principal 
Secretary." It ends thus : ' Given at our house 
of Hampton Courte, the xviii th daie of the 
monthe of Maye, in the xii th yeare of our reign, 
and in the yeare of our Lorde, 1570/ It is written 
on parchment; a few letters only have faded 
away here and there. The queen's signature is to 
1 the left. 

" In 1570 a strolling beggar, named Peter, 
having been punished for disorderly conduct by 
the magistrates of Novgorod, vowed to be revenged 
against them ; and executed his purpose in the 
following manner. He forged a letter as from 
the chief inhabitants of Novgorod, inviting the 
King of Poland to take possession of their city. 
This letter he hid behind an image in the church 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



223 



of St. Sophia, and he then hastened to Moscow to 
inform the czar that some treasonable plot was 
hatching at Novgorod. Ivan sent a confidential 
person back with Peter, and after a search the 
letter was found, as by accident, in the place where 
Peter had hidden it. Without any further proof 
than this, the savage tyrant marched on Novgorod 
with his chosen legion, and put to death thousands 
of his harmless and loyal subjects. He also 
ravaged the whole country round with fire and 
sword." 

" I wonder, papa," cried Eliot, "that the people 
did not rise against such a monster and kill him, 
or drive him out of Eussia. He seems to have 
expected something of the sort, from his request 
to Queen Elizabeth." 

44 Their forbearance is wonderful," replied Colonel 
Oakeley. 44 We never read of any real plot against 
Ivan's life, during the twenty-four years that this 
awful tyranny lasted. Once, indeed, a gentleman 
whom he was about to stab lifted his hand against 
him, and would have struck him but for the inter- 
ference of the Czarowitch Ivan. This, however, 
was in self-defence merely. I suppose that some 
were restrained by abject fear, and some by higher 



224 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



motives from attempting Ivan's life or crown. 
Karamsin writes thus on the subject : 6 Such was 
the czar, and such were his subjects. Which is the 
most to be wondered at, he or they ? If he was the 
greatest of tyrants, they were the most resigned of 
victims, because they looked on u the powers that 
be as ordained of God," and thought it sin to 
resist. Ivan appeared to them a scourge in the 
hand of God to chastise them for their many sins. 
They waited in faith and hope for better times, 
and they feared not death, knowing that this tran- 
sitory life is but a preparation for that better life 
beyond the grave.'' 

u I must now tell you of the heroic firmness 
displayed by Philip, Archbishop of Moscow, in his 
dealings with the tyrant. That see had become 
vacant in 1566, and Ivan, anxious to please the 
clergy, sent for a good man named Germanus, and 
proposed to the bishops to elect him as their head. 
They were about to do so, w T hen Germanus sought 
a private interview with the czar, and mildly but 
firmly spoke to him of his past life, the need of 
repentance, the nearness of death, the punishment 
reserved for obstinate sinners. Ivan was not un- 
moved, and went back to his favourites with a face 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



225 



of deep thought. 'Prince.' they said, 'for your 
own sake, for ours, do not allow such a man to 
remain near you ; he will bring you into thraldom, 
as Sylvester did." Ivan took the hint, and banished 
Germanus from his presence. There were among 
the clergy some grasping and worldly-minded men, 
who stooped to flatter the czar in hopes of obtain- 
ing rich preferment from him. In this instance 
they were all disappointed. The tyrant had long 
felt a great respect for Philip of Solovetzky. This 
good man, born of noble parents, had in early 
youth forsaken the court, taken orders, and de- 
voted himself to a missionary life. He gained the 
hearts of the wild people of Solovetzky, among 
whom he preached the Gospel. He taught them 
to make roads, to drain their marshes, and to cut 
openings in their pathless forests. He imported 
cattle and deer into the island, and established 
fisheries and saltworks. The aged Sylvester, as 
you have heard, was exiled to Solovetzky, and 
died there ; and it is very likely that he and Philip 
often conversed together respecting the wretched 
state of Russia and the depravity of Ivan. Little, 
however, did the good man dream that the czar's 
eye was upon him, and that he was soon to receive 



226 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



a summons to the court, and bid farewell to his 
beloved converts for ever. 

" His grief was unfeigned when that summons 
came ; he besought Ivan 6 not to place so enormous 
a freight on so slight a vessel but the czar was 
not to be moved from his purpose. Then Philip 
consented on one condition. 6 Prince,"* said he, ' I 
bow to your will ; but set my mind at rest, I 
beseech you, by disbanding the Oprichnina ! Let 
it no longer be the bane of Russia ; the Most 
High hath said : " A house divided against itself 
cannot but fall." I dare not give my blessing 
while I see my country oppressed." 

" Every one expected that Philip would have 
shared the fate of Germanus ; but Ivan stifled his 
wrath, and only bade him not meddle with matters 
of state. The clergy all flocked to Philip, and 
besought him not to press the point just then, but 
to try what patience and gentleness would do. 
He yielded, and accepted the perilous office. 

64 Every one hoped that better days were now 
about to dawn. At his consecration, Philip, as 
the custom was, preached a sermon addressed to 
the czar ; he told him how much better it was to 
rule by love than by fear, and how far more blessed 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



227 



were the 'bloodless victories' gained by acts of 
mercy than all the trophies of war. A strange 
softness crept over Ivan's soul as he listened, 
and for several months he was a changed man. 
To use Karamsin's words, 4 The beast of prey 
slumbered. 1 

44 This calm was succeeded by a wilder outbreak 
than ever. For the third time Ivan accused the 
people of Moscow of conspiring against his life, 
and a general massacre followed. The 4 Oprich- 
niks,' or members of the legion, went into every 
street and house with daggers in their hands, 
dispatching whom they pleased. In vain Philip 
implored, exhorted, threatened; all was to no 
purpose. 

44 One Sunday, while morning service was going 
on in the cathedral, Ivan rudely entered it with 
a band of satellites, attired like himself in fantastic 
dresses. They made their way to the place where 
the archbishop was standing, and some of them 
jestingly said : 4 Father, the prince waits for your 
blessing.' Philip fixed his eyes upon Ivan, and 
said : 4 No, in such a disguise as this I cannot 
recognize the Czar of Russia, neither do I recognize 
him in the present government of the empire. 
a 2 



228 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



prince, while we are offering up prayers to God 
within this church, the blood of innocent men is 
crying to Him from without ! Never since the sun 
first shone were such crimes committed in the light 
of day as Russia now witnesses. Heathens are 
not devoid of justice and pity, but in Russia 
there is none ; and all these iniquities are com- 
mitted in your name ! Know that for all these 
things God will bring you into judgment ; how 
will you stand before Him stained with the blood 
of just men ? The very stones will cry out against 
you. prince, I speak as one who will have to 
give account for your soul to God ! Him only do 
I fear.' 

"Ivan, trembling with rage, struck the pave- 
ment with his staff. 6 Insolent old man," he said, 
; I have borne with you too long ! from this day I 
will be to you all that you represent me.' He left 
the church, and from that day Philip's doom 
was sealed. Ivan sent some of his creatures to 
Solovetzky to try to find some flaw in Philip's 
conduct there; but all bore witness to his good 
deeds, and declared him to be ' holy in heart and 
life.' At last one false witness was bribed to 
appear against him. There was a mock trial, and 



THE HISTOEY OF RUSSIA. 



229 



Philip was condemned. He uttered no complaint 
against his judges, and simply said to the false 
accuser : * The seed you have just sown will not 
bring you in a good harvest. 1 He was shut up in 
prison, and put to death privately, some months 
after. A Tartar, whom Ivan employed for this pur- 
pose, said, on entering his cell. s I am come in the 
czar's name to ask your blessing." Philip replied 
that none but good men and good works could 
receive a blessing ; and he added, with much 
gentleness. • I know your errand, and am prepared ; 
be the czar's will accomplished.* So this good 
man went to his rest : his remains were privately 
interred in the nearest church, but they are now 
laid in the cathedral of Moscow, near the spot 
where he so boldly rebuked the wickedness of 
Ivan." 

; * thank you. papa." said Dora, "for telling 
us this history, though it is a sad one ! I do like 
to think of very, very good men like Philip, who 
lived long ago and far away, yet had the same 
faith that we have." 

" And were not afraid to die for it," added 
Eliot. 

•* Oh, yes ! that was so grand," said Katharine, 



230 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



sighing. " Grandmamma, I am afraid I should 
make a very poor martyr ; pain is so hard to 
bear." 

"Do not make yourself uneasy, my dear child," 
answered Mrs. Oakeley, smiling, " as to what you 
would do, if great trials came. The power to 
bear them does not come beforehand ; God gives 
it at the time of need to those who have used 
themselves to be patient in lesser trials. The 
examples of good men were never meant to dis- 
hearten, but rather to help and cheer us on 
our way; and now let us return to our his- 
tory." 

" The year 1570," said Colonel Oakeley, "closed 
gloomily with famine and pestilence. In 1571 a 
band of Tartars, under the Khan of Crimea, entered 
Russia. At the first tidings of their approach, Ivan 
was base enough to take flight, leaving the unhappy 
townsmen of Moscow to care for their own safety. 
The enemy met with no hindrance on their way ; 
for Ivan had disbanded the greater part of his 
army, and his miserable ' Oprichniks*' had followed 
him to Alexandrovsky. The Tartars encamped 
under the walls of Moscow on Ascension-day, and 
their first proceeding was to set fire to several of 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



231 



the suburbs, or £ Slobodes,' as they are called. 
The fire leaped from house to house till it reached 
the city, and for the second time in Ivan's reign 
Moscow was a sheet of flame. The loss of life 
and property was enormous ; many in trying to 
escape were drowned in the Moskwa. Twenty-five 
English merchants perished, and Ivan's new palace 
with all its inmates was destroyed. Satisfied with 
the mischief he had done, the khan retreated as 
rapidly as he had advanced, carrying with him 
many prisoners and much booty. Ivan soon after 
made a dishonourable peace with him. 

" In 1572 the czar suddenly broke up his chosen 
legion, to the great satisfaction of the people. It 
is supposed that he did so at the request of Boris 
Godounof, a new favourite, who had obtained great 
influence over his mind. You will hear much of 
Boris later in our history. He was a clever, ambi- 
tious man, and contrived, though high in Ivan's 
good graces, to keep his hands clear from inno- 
cent blood, — no easy matter in those distracted 
times. 

u In 1573 the throne of Poland became vacant 
by the death of Sigismund Augustus, and Ivan 
did his utmost to persuade the nobles to elect him 



232 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



king. To his great disgust they preferred Henry 
Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX. of France : 
this prince was recalled to his native country a 
few weeks after, and a fresh election became 
necessary. Ivan tried his chance again ; but was 
a second time rejected. His successful rival was 
Stephen Bathory, vaivode or lord of Transylvania, 
one of the most prudent and politic princes of his 
day. Ivan dissembled his rage at this second dis- 
appointment so far as to speak fair words to 
Stephen's ambassador ; but he soon after found 
or made a pretext for breaking peace, and in 
1577 he sent a vast army to ravage Livonia. 
They obtained some successes at first, but these 
were followed by disgraceful defeats ; and in the 
course of the next two years Ivan lost Polotzk, 
and all the towns he had made himself master of 
in Lithuania. In the list of Stephen's generals 
we read with sorrow the name of the brave 
Kourbsky. 

" In his distress Ivan applied to Rodolph II., 
Emperor of Germany, and to Pope Gregory XIII., 
begging them to plead his cause with King Stephen. 
By their help the peace of Zapolia, between Russia 
and Poland, was concluded in 1582. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



" The brightest feature in this disastrous reign 
was the discovery of Siberia, about the year 
1581. 

44 Wonderful to relate, this immense tract of 
country, bounded by the Oural mountains, the 
Frozen and Pacific Oceans, and the Altaic range, 
had remained till now untrodden by European 
feet. It was inhabited by a few scattered Tartar 
tribes, of whom the Burats, the Samoyedes. and 
the Tunguses were the most considerable. Two 
merchant princes, brothers, of the name of Stro- 
gonof. who for many years had kept the trade of 
Permia in their own hands, first conceived the 
idea of exploring beyond the Oural chain. The 
Siberian Tartars had often crossed these moun- 
tains, and made great havoc amongst the harmless 
Permians ; the Strogonofs, therefore, formed the 
double project of conquering these troublesome 
savages, and of enriching themselves bv seizins 
on the mines and the fur trade of Siberia. 

* 4 They invited eight hundred Cossacks of the 
Volga, under their chief Jermak. to enlist in their 
service, furnished them with provisions, arms, cross- 
bows, and some light artillery ; and. with a degree 
of thought which puts to shame our more en- 



234 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



lightened age, they provided chaplains to accom- 
pany the party. In September 1581 Jermak set 
out, having taken a solemn vow to be c courageous 
and temperate." We have not time to enter into 
a full detail of his exploits and perils, which were 
very great. The deep rivers, the rocky moun- 
tains, the wild steppes they had to cross, the 
climate, which became dreadfully severe as they 
advanced, but above all the attacks of wild tribes, 
thinned their numbers greatly. At one time they 
were tempted to turn back ; but Jermak's en- 
treaties prevailed, and they fought their way on 
till they entered the town of Isker, on the river 
Irtisch. 

" Russian historians compare Jermak to Cortes, 
the discoverer of Mexico ; but in one respect he 
differed widely from the Spanish adventurer ; for 
he was both just and gentle in his treatment of 
the natives. He kept his followers in the strictest 
order, and punished any violence committed on 
the friendly Tartars with death. Towards Kout- 
choum, the Prince or Sultan of Siberia, who showed 
great treachery in his dealings with the Cossacks, 
Jermak behaved with a just severity; he kept 
him a prisoner in his own hands for some time. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



235 



The use of fire-arms gave him immense power, 
as the natives, who had never seen them before, 
imagined them to be weapons from above, — a 
kind of thunder which only mortals favoured by 
heaven were allowed to wield. 

t; Jermak penetrated as far as the Oby, an im- 
portant river of whose existence the Permians 
had barely heard. He found there icy deserts, 
regions of desolation, 8 covered with moss, and 
whitened," says Karamsin, - with the bones of 
mammoths and other huge creatures, so as to 
have the appearance of a vast burying-ground.'' 
Thinking it needless risk to explore these soli- 
tudes. Jermak turned back to Isker, from which 
place he sent an embassy to Moscow. He an- 
nounced to the Strogonofs that, by Gods help, 
he had conquered the Sultan of Siberia, and in- 
duced him and his people to swear allegiance to 
Russia. He also sent a very humble letter to the 
czar (who had expressed great displeasure when 
he heard of the enterprise) assuring him of his 
loyalty, and that all he had done was in the 
service : of the Christian faith and the great 
Monarch/ 



236 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



" These tidings were received with extreme joy 
at Moscow. Both the czar and the nation seemed 
to shake off their gloomy apathy for a while. In 
the streets people met and congratulated one 
another, church bells were rung, and thanksgivings 
offered up, as in the glorious days when Kazan 
and Astrakhan were conquered. Ivan received 
the messenger most graciously, and showered 
honours and rewards on the brave Cossacks and 
their leader. He sent fresh troops to be placed 
under the command of J ermak ; and by their help 
this wonderful man completed the conquest of 
Siberia. He was cut off in the flower of his age, 
in 1584. Wearied with a long day's march, he 
and forty-nine of his comrades lay down to rest 
one night on the banks of the Irtisch. Either 
they forgot to post a sentinel, or he too fell 
asleep, lulled by the sound of the falling rain and 
the hoarse murmur of the river. A band of Sibe- 
rian plunderers found them, and put all except 
J ermak to death ; he awoke at the sound of the 
fray, defended himself bravely with his sabre, and 
then sprang into the river, hoping to regain his 
boats ; but the weight of his armour caused him to 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



237 



sink, and so he perished. It was not till some 
time after that a fisherman found his dead body 
many miles further down, and knew it again by 
the golden eagle on his breastplate. The tradition 
is that it was buried under a fir-tree ; but none cf 
his followers could ever ascertain where. Deeply 
dejected at the loss of their brave chief, the Cos- 
sacks returned home ; and it was not till the next 
reign that a larger army marched to the banks of 
the Irtisch, and annexed Siberia for ever to the 
mighty empire of Russia. 

u Jermak is not forgotten in Siberia : his name 
is often heard in the low plaintive songs of the 
natives ; several places are called after him ; and 
rude pictures of him hang on the walls of many 
Siberian huts. He deserves to be thus remem- 
bered ; for, considering the cruelty of the age in 
which he lived, and of the monarch whom he 
served, he was a just and humane as well as a 
great man. 

" I must go back to the year ] 582, in which two 
events of consequence happened. The first was a 
war with Charles IX. of Sweden, in which Ivan's 
troops were worsted, and the town of Narva 
taken. The second was the death of the Czarowitch 



238 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



Ivan, in a most awful and tragical manner. This 
young prince had hitherto been his father's darling, 
the one object that 

'Made up to his forlorn and desolate heart 
The forfeited affections of his kind/ 

the one link that connected him with better days, 
and with Anastasia. Miserably brought up as he 
had been, inured to bloodshed and to vice from 
his childhood, the czarowitch still retained feelings 
of honour, and inherited something of his mother's 
angelic sweetness of disposition. He felt a real 
anxiety for the welfare of his country, and was 
deeply hurt at the base and cowardly indifference 
his father showed to her disgrace. On learning 
the loss of Narva, he rushed into the czar's 
chamber at Alexandrovsky, and implored leave to 
take the command of the army, and attack the 
Swedes. Ivan took fire at this request, and 
gloomily answered, ' Rebel, wilt thou, too, join 
with the boyards to dethrone me V He raised 
his hand against his son ; Boris Grodounof, who 
was standing by, tried to stop him, but it was too 
late ; a violent blow from the czar's iron-tipped 
staff struck the czarowitch to the ground, and 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



239 



laid him weltering in his blood. At this dreadful 
sight Ivan's rage vanished, and, throwing himself 
on his son's body, he cried out, 1 Most miserable, 
I have killed my child ! 1 He tried to staunch the 
blood, which welled forth from the wound ; he 
sent for surgeons and physicians, but all to no 
purpose. After lingering some days, the young 
prince died. No murmur escaped him, no reproach 
passed his lips. To the last he held his father's 
hands clasped in his, and kissed them repeatedly, 
saying, c I die a dutiful son, and a loyal subject P 
After some days spent in frantic grief, Ivan sought 
for relief from his own thoughts in wild revelry 
and banquetings ; and the palace at Moscow, to 
which he had returned, resounded as usual with 
laughter and hollow merriment. He also applied 
his mind to business of state ; and we find him 
soon after discussing with some Jesuits, sent by 
the pope, a scheme for a league between all the 
princes of Christendom against the Turks. He 
entered into controversy with these learned men 
respecting the supremacy of the pope, and showed 
no lack of cleverness and of knowledge in his 
remarks."" 

" That was like our own Henry VIII., papa ; 



240 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



was it not?" said Eliot; "he was so fond of an 
argument." 

u Ivan also resembled our English tyrant in the 
number of his wives," observed Colonel Oakeley ; 
" he was married six times. In 1583 he formed 
the strange project of divorcing his last wife, and 
seeking for a czarina in England. He consulted 
his confidential physician, an Englishman, on the 
subject : some writers even think that he aspired 
to the hand of Queen Elizabeth herself ; but this 
is very unlikely. Jacobs, his physician, recom- 
mended to his notice the Lady Mary Hastings, 
daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon, and niece of 
the queen, on her mother's side ; and Ivan was so 
much fascinated with his description of her, that 
he sent an envoy to England with proposals for 
her hand. Pisemsky, — that was the envoy's name, — 
reached England in the autumn of 1582, and found 
that the queen had taken refuge at Windsor 
Castle from the plague, which was ravaging Lon- 
don. The feasts and parties of pleasure with 
which Pisemsky was greeted did not prevent him 
from finding his stay in England very dull. In 
November he was introduced to the queen in a 
numerous assemblage of peers, prelates, and 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



241 



merchants of the Russian Company. At the name 
of Ivan, Elizabeth rose, and came forward a few 
steps ; saying, as she received the czar's letter and 
presents, that she did not understand the Russian 
language. When Pisemsky assured her of the 
czar's attachment, she replied that she loved him 
with equal sincerity, and had a lively desire to see 
him with her own eyes. So far all was well ; but 
when Pisemsky and Elizabeth's ministers pro- 
ceeded to frame a commercial treaty, things did 
not go on quite so smoothly. Pisemsky took 
offence at the title of cousin, which, as well as that 
of brother, was applied to Ivan by the English 
queen. c My master,' he said, ' is the brother, 
not the cousin of your queen :' nor would he be 
satisfied till the offending word was scratched out. 
Another expression affronted him greatly ; it was 
this : ' The czar requests the queen.' 6 My 
master,' he said, 6 exacts, but never requests com- 
pliance with his will. 1 This word was also with- 
drawn, and, after some more difficulties, the treaty 
was concluded to the satisfaction of all. 

"The marriage was next discussed between Queen 
Elizabeth and the envoy alone. It is evident that 
this politic princess never intended Ivan to obtain 

E 



242 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



the hand of her niece. She plied the envoy with 
fair words ; expressed much gratitude to the czar 
for desiring an alliance with her family, but added 
that the Lady Mary's qualities being those of the 
mind, not of the person, she feared her kinswoman 
would scarcely suit the taste of so great an ad- 
mirer of beauty as the czar. 'Besides,' added 
Elizabeth, 4 she hath but lately recovered from the 
small-pox; I cannot suffer your lordship to see 
her, nor your limner to take her portrait, while 
yet disfigured by the marks of this disease." 1 Six 
months elapsed before the Lady Mary's com- 
plexion had sufficiently recovered its fairness to 
bear the inspection of Pisemsky. In May he was 
invited to the garden of the chancellor, Bromley, 
near Charing Cross, and there introduced by the 
Earl of Huntingdon to his sister. She advanced 
to meet him, accompanied by several ladies, made 
a low courtesy, and then stood still, while Pisemsky 
perused her features with more curiosity than 
politeness. - Look at her well,' said Bromley ; 6 it 
is the queen's will that you should see her in the 
full light of day, not within doors, where you might 
be deceived as to her appearance.' This is the 
Eussian account of the meeting. An English eye- 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 243 

witness says : 4 There (in the chancellor's garden) 
was the envoy brought into her presence, and, 
casting down his countenance, fell prostrate before 
her ; then rising back, with his face still towards 
her (the lady with the rest admiring at his strange 
salutation), he said, by his interpreter, u It suf- 
ficed him to behold the angelic presence of her, 
who, he trusted, would be his master's spouse and 
empress." 1 It appears that the Lady Mary learned 
about this time such details of the czar's ferocity, 
as completely destroyed any wish she might have 
entertained of sharing his imperial throne. The 
marriage was broken off in 1584, and in March of 
that year Ivan was seized with a fatal illness. In 
his delirium he was continually calling out for his 
murdered son ; he fancied he saw him at his bed- 
side, and addressed him by the most endearing 
names. No other token of remorse escaped him ; 
feeling rather better one day, he had himself car- 
ried into his treasury, and spent some time in ex- 
plaining to an Englishman named Horsey the 
value of the crown diamonds. The next day he 
said to Prince Belzky : 6 Go and prepare those 
lying astrologers for execution ; they said I should 
not survive this day, yet I feel my strength re- 
r 2 



244 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



stored." c Wait till the day is over,' replied the 
boyards, their courage reviving as they saw in their 
master's face the signs of approaching death. Ac- 
cordingly Ivan expired that evening, while arrang- 
ing the pieces for a game of chess. He was in his 
fifty-fourth year, and had reigned fifty-one years." 

" Poor miserable Ivan, what a dreadful end ! " 
exclaimed Kate and Dora together. 

u I do not think, papa," said Eliot, " I ever re- 
member reading of so thoroughly wicked a prince 
as Ivan. Can you recollect any other tyrant that 
equals him?" 

" Scarcely," said Colonel Oakeley. " I think 
this is partly accounted for by his position. Louis 
XL, our own Henry VIII., Pope Alexander VI. 
(the most cruel princes that occur to me at this 
moment), all had limits set to their power ; Ivan 
had none. So weak is human nature that to the 
finest dispositions great power is dangerous. 
What must it be to an uneducated, selfish, and 
naturally cruel character, such as Ivan's was?" 

cc I wish one could comfort one's self with be- 
lieving that he was insane," remarked Kate in a 
low voice to her grandmamma, the confidante of 
all her thoughts and feelings. 



THE HIST OH Y OF RUSSIA. 



245 



" I would gladly indulge the same hope, if it is 
not false charity to do so," replied Mrs. Oakeley. 
" Ivan's bursts of rage and his wild fits of levity cer- 
tainly look like madness, yet, on the other hand, he 
knew what was good, and could practise it when 
he chose. We see him wilfully turn from the 
right way, first neglect, then spurn his truest 
friends ; then, when affliction is sent to purify his 
heart, he refuses to profit by the lesson, and 
plunges madly into vice, — vice, as is often the case, 
destroys every kindly feeling, and leads him on to 
frightful acts of cruelty ! It is a miserable picture 
altogether ! But after all it is not for blind mortals 
like ourselves to speak positively as to the degree 
of guilt of any fellow-sinner ; our own hearts are 
often a riddle to us, how much more those of others ! 

' 'Tis He alone who made the heart 

Decidedly can try us ; 
He knows each chord, its various tone, 

Each spring, its various bias ; 
Then at the balance let's be mute, 

We never can adjust it ; 
What's done, we partly may compute, 

But know not what's resisted.' " 

There was a pause, after which Colonel Oakeley 
said ; " We now come to the last prince of the 



246 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



Varingian line. For 736 years the sons of Ruric 
had held the Russian sceptre ; the memory of Olga, 
of Vladimir, of Jaroslaf the Wise, of Demetrius of 
the Don, made them dear to the hearts of the 
people ; and, in spite of Ivan's iniquities, his son's 
accession to the throne was hailed with feelings of 
affectionate loyalty. The new czar Feodor, Anas- 
tasia's younger son, was a complete contrast to 
his father. Whatever abilities he may naturally 
have possessed had been crushed by harsh treat- 
ment, for Feodor had never been a favourite ; the 
late czar and his wicked courtiers despised him for 
his weak health, homely appearance, and great 
timidity : they also hated him because he was con- 
scientious and firm in acting up to what he thought 
right. He certainly was very unfit to occupy the 
throne ; his mind was narrow, his religion mixed 
up with childish superstitions. He had no head 
for politics, and no power of overawing the insolent 
and vicious boyards that composed his father's 
court. In person he was short, bent, and shrivelled- 
looking ; his face was pale, with an unmeaning 
smile that scarcely ever left it; his movements 
were slow, and his gait so tottering that it gave 
the idea of premature old age. This feebleness of 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



247 



mind and body at the age of twenty-seven caused 
sad forebodings in the minds of many as to the 
future welfare of the country. No one was more 
fully aware of his defects than the czar himself ; he 
meekly owned that he had no talent for affairs, and 
he not only shared, but absolutely made over his 
power to his wife Irene, and her brother, Boris 
Godounof. Irene was pious and gentle, and her 
time and thoughts had hitherto been given to home 
duties, and to visiting and relieving the poor. She 
was greatly beloved, both by her husband, whom 
she nursed tenderly in his frequent illnesses, and 
by the people, who called her \ the second Anas- 
tasia."' She had no wish to meddle with matters 
of state, and trusted completely to her brother 
Boris. 

" 4 The first days that follow the death of a 
tyrant," says Tacitus, ' are the happiest days for 
the people.' For some hours after Ivan breathed 
his last no one durst proclaim the news. The 
boyards, accustomed for twenty-four years to a 
reign of terror, looked with awe at his cold re- 
mains, and seemed to fancy they had still the 
power to hurt. It was not till Ivan had been laid 
with great pomp and pageantry in the tomb that 



248 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



every one breathed freely. But the respite was 
short ; fresh troubles were gathering, and it was 
soon evident that a weak government produces 
almost as much misery as a tyrannical one. 

" Ivan had left his son in the hands of a council 
of boyards, five in number, of whom Godounof was 
one. The Princes Schouisky and Belzky, ambi- 
tious, clever men, were his most formidable rivals, 
and he resolved to get rid of them. He took ad- 
vantage of Belzky's unpopularity to spread through 
Moscow a report that he entertained treasonable 
designs against the present czar. The people were 
easily worked up to believe this, and in a few hours 
the city was in a state of tumult. Wild shouts 
were heard from one end of it to the other. 
20,000 armed men, with some boyards amongst 
them, and followed by a furious mob, marched 
upon the Kremlin. There was scarcely time to 
close the gates, assemble a few ' Strelitzers,' and 
summon the council, before the danger became 
imminent. The rioters had seized some pieces of 
cannon, and were preparing to blow up a gate, 
and storm the Kremlin fortress. The czar's uncle, 
Prince Romanovitch, now came forward and asked 
them what they were come for. He was a man 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



249 



of great integrity and piety, a worthy brother of 
Anastasia, and the people listened to him with 
respect. * We seek Belzky, 1 they replied : ' give 
up the traitor ; he is plotting to destroy the royal 
line of Ruric. and to overthrow the boyards. 1 This 
unfortunate nobleman was within hearing, and the 
voice of angry thousands seeking: his life sounded 
in his ears like the roar of the ocean in its fury. 
He hid himself, trembling, in the czar's bed-room, 
and was thankful to escape with life. The mob 
were at last persuaded to retire peaceably, crying 
out. ' Lono- live the czar ! 1 and Belzkv. by way <~>f 
an honourable exile, was appointed governor of 
Nizne Novgorod. 

" As soon as peace was restored, a day for the 
coronation of Feodor was fixed. His father's 
widow, and her child Demetrius, an infant of six 
months old. were sent with a brilliant retinue to 
the city of Ouglitch, in the north of Russia, as it 
was thought their presence might be dangerous to 
Feodor. The tender-hearted czar durst not oppose 
the decision of his council, but he shed many tears 
at parting with his little brother. Not all the 
splendour of his coronation, which took place the 
last day in May, could console him. A terrible 



250 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



storm ushered in that ceremony ; torrents of rain 
fell, and deluged the streets of Moscow ; and the 
people looked blank, and thought it an omen of 
evil. However, the sun presently came out, and 
shone brightly on the last son of Ruric that was to 
wear his crown ; countless multitudes assembled 
in the square of the Kremlin, but not a sound was 
heard when the palace gates opened, and the czar 
came forth, followed by his whole court. He wore 
a gorgeous dress of sky blue : his boyards were 
attired in cloth of gold. They entered the cathe- 
dral, which was thronged with people of every 
degree, from the prince to the peasant. The samo 
deep silence prevailed, only broken by the voices 
of the archbishop and of the choir, till the crown 
was set on Feodor's head. Then a loud shout of 
joy burst from all present. The ceremony ended 
with a few solemn words addressed by the arch- 
bishop to the czar : ' Cherish wisdom/ he said ; 
'seek counsel from the wise only; follow after 
holiness, for nothing else is immortal. Wouldst 
thou find mercy from the Most High ? show it to 
all thy subjects. Never let the voice of the slan- 
derer reach thine ear, thou whom Heaven has 
blest with a mild and pitiful temper ! and may the 



THE HISTORY OF KUSSTA. 



251 



Almighty grant thee victory over all thine enemies, 
and a long and peaceful reign ! Amen/ 

" He ceased ; and all present exclaimed with 
one voice, 1 Yes. long may he reign I- 

" Feodor now stood up in his robes and crown, 
and holding in both hands a long sceptre made of 
a whale's tooth. He looked dejected and weary. 
Before him were placed the crowns taken from 
conquered kingdoms. Beneath him stood all the 
boyards. including his uncle, while Boris Godounof 
stood proudly at his right, and after a while took 
the sceptre from his trembling hands and carried 
it for him. Meanwhile Irene sat at an open 
window of her palace, and watched for her hus- 
band's return. She wore a crown with twelve 
points, each covered with pearls ; her graceful 
movements and sweet countenance arrested all 
eyes, and won all hearts, and as the procession 
passed by, the air was rent with shouts of 1 Long 
live the czarina 1 ' A banquet concluded the 
solemnities of the day. 

; * Feodor spent the next week in giving audi- 
ences to foreign ambassadors, in conferring dig- 
nities on some of his nobles, and in setting free 
others who for nearly twenty years had languished 



252 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



in prison, He also took off several heavy taxes 
which had burdened his people. On Boris Godou- 
nof he lavished gifts and titles to so great an 
extent that Russia had never before seen a subject 
so honoured. The three other members of the 
council dwindled into nothingness, and the regent 
(so Boris was called) became all in all. 

" In 1586 an army was sent into Siberia to 
finish the conquests which Jermak had begun. The 
boyarcls who commanded it did not altogether 
follow the merciful example that great man had 
set them, and we read of some acts of violence and 
cruelty committed against the natives. 

" In 1587 the town of Tobolsk was founded by 
the Russians, and a Christian church built there. 
The regent lost no time in sending peasants, 
ploughmen, and hunters from Russia to people the 
new territory, and to cultivate its less dreary spots. 
It immediately became a source of profit to the 
mother country ; for we read that in the same year 
it yielded 200,000 sables, 10,000 black and 500,000 
small grey foxes, besides beavers and ermines. 

" The English resident at Moscow, Bowes, ap- 
pears to have been the only person w T ho regretted 
Ivan the Terrible. He had basked in the full 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



253 



sunshine of his favour, with the single interruption 
of one brief quarrel, in which the czar had called 
him an 4 ignorant fool," and driven him out of his 
presence. A message of derision was sent to him 
when Ivan died, to the effect that his ' English 
czar' was no more, and the patent by which our 
countrymen had hitherto kept the Russian trade 
to themselves was revoked. Highly offended at 
this, he took his departure for England. 

" The czar was much alarmed when he heard 
that Bowes had left Moscow, and hastened to send 
an envoy, named Bekman, to disarm the wrath of 
his 4 dearest sister 1 Elizabeth. It was all Bekman 
could do to smooth her ruffled pride ; she would 
not even see him for many weeks, and when he 
was admitted to her presence she received him 
with upbraidings. The dispute was settled at last, 
and some advantages given to the British traders ; 
but the regent steadily refused to restore the 
patent, saying that ' trade ought to be common to 
all, not a monopoly for the gain of a few. 1 B 4 So 
much juster notions of commerce,' says Hume, 
4 were entertained by this barbarian, than by our 
renowned Queen Elizabeth ! 1 

44 A friendly intercourse was now begun with 

\ 



254 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



the court of Vienna, and a Russian boyard sent 
there as ambassador. He seems to have been 
anxious to glean any hints he could for the im- 
provement of his own country ; for in his letters to 
Godounof he describes the Austrian manners and 
customs, the various new inventions he found 
amongst them, and particularly their gardens and 
hot-houses. He complains that the Emperor 
Rodolph II. was more occupied with his magnifi- 
cent stables than with public business. 

" Treaties of peace were concluded by Godounof 
in 1587 with two nations at the two opposite ex- 
tremities of the Russian empire, — with Frederic II., 
King of Denmark, and with Schah Abbas the 
Great of Persia. 

" The regent now felt himself strong enough 
to venture on a bold stroke ; he accused his 
enemies the Schouiskys, and Dionysius, Arch- 
bishop of Moscow, an artful, ambitious man, of 
plotting against the state, and had them banished 
or cast into prison. It is said that by his com- 
mand Prince Schouisky was privately strangled." 

"And did not Feodor interfere at all,, papa?" 
asked Eliot. 

u Feodor's intellect and health appear to have 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



255 



been gradually weakening," answered Colonel 
Oakeley, 44 and he was now quite unable to apply 
his mind to business. We are told that he rose 
at four o'clock every morning, and spent some 
time in his chamber, which was fitted up with 
little images of saints, and lighted with lamps day 
and night. He then accompanied the czarina to 
morning service ; on his return he was placed 
in an arm-chair, and received the visits of his 
courtiers. His dinner hour was eleven, and he 
slept most of the afternoon. The rest of the day 
was spent with Irene, and, according to the fashion 
of the time, dwarfs and buffoons were brought in 
to amuse him. Before bed-time he accompanied 
his wife to the evening service. He sometimes 
indulged, at a safe distance, in the pastime of bear- 
hunting. When he went out to take the air his 
subjects would throng about him, and thrust 
petitions into his hand ; but he always languidly 
put them by, and referred them to the regent. 
The czarina was unremitting in her care of this 
poor weak prince, and seems really to have loved 
him." 

" She could hardly have respected him much, 
though," said Dora ; 4 " he was so very childish !" 



256 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



"I do not know, Dora," said her grandmamma. 
" A really good woman, as Irene was, would be 
more inclined to view with pity and sorrow than 
with contempt one whom it had pleased God to 
afflict so heavily ; and if she looked back to 
Feodor's youthful days, and remembered how 
merciful and upright his conduct had been in 
Ivan's wicked court, I think she might positively 
feel respect for him ; do not you H 

" Yes, indeed, dear grandmamma," answered 
Dora, blushing ; " and I ought not to have inter- 
rupted papa with such a silly remark." 

"In 1588," continued Colonel Oakeley, "the 
Patriarch of Constantinople, Jeremiah, came to 
Moscow in order to obtain money for his destitute 
clergy. Feodor helped him liberally, and he in 
his gratitude proposed to raise the Archbishop of 
Moscow to the rank of patriarch, the highest 
dignity in the Greek Church. This was done; 
and for many years after a curious ceremony was 
observed at Moscow. The patriarch, every Palm- 
Sunday, rode through the streets of the capital on 
an ass, in memory of our blessed Lord's entrance 
into Jerusalem, and the bridle was held by the 
czar himself. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA, 



257 



4 *The death of the Polish king. Stephen Bathory, 
in 1587, opened a new field for the ambition of 
Boris. He tried to put Feodor forward as can- 
didate for the throne ; but the nobles preferred 
Sigismund. son of the King of Sweden, and of that 
Princess Catharine whose hand, you may remem- 
ber. Ivan the Terrible had asked for in marriage. 
Boris was too wise to quarrel with the new 
monarch, and they remained on good terms till 
1592. when Sigismund became King of Sweden by 
the death of his father. Three years later a 
treaty was concluded between Eussia and Sweden. 
The regent gave up Esthonia (see. Dora, it is the 
province that lies north of Livonia), and received 
in return the important town of Kexholm, on the 
north side of Lake Ladoga. 

4i We must now return to the year 1591. and its 
gloomy and mysterious events. Boris had become 
absolute master of the czar and of Eussia. yet he 
was not satisfied ; though he ruled, it was not in 
his own name. He was still obliged to hide his 
power under the mask of humility, and to do 
homage, as it were, to the shadow of a czar. This 
position must have been very galling to him, if 
there is any truth in the following anecdote re- 



258 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



lated by a chronicler of that day. Boris, though 
so enlightened in many things, believed in astro- 
logy. One night he consulted some diviners as 
to his future fate. They, willing to flatter him, 
replied, ; A crown awaits thee and then stopped 
short, as if dismayed at what came after. He 
eagerly bade them reveal the end of the prophecy, 
and learned from their lips that his reign would 
only last seven years. So far from being cast 
down he expressed the most lively joy, and em- 
braced the soothsayers, exclaiming, c Only let me 
reign, were it but for seven days.'' It is very 
unlikely that the prudent Boris should ever have 
spoken such unguarded words ; but the story shows 
what his turn of mind was. Now, as Feodor and 
Irene had no children, the only obstacle to his 
obtaining supreme power was the little Demetrius, 
Feodor's brother. This child lived with his mother, 
the Dowager Czarina, at Ouglitch ; and all Russia 
looked anxiously to him as the last scion of the 
house of Ruric. It would, therefore, be no easy 
matter to set him aside. 

" The regent attempted in the first instance to 
prove that Demetrius had no right to the crown, 
and that his mother's marriage with Ivan the 



THE HISTOEY OF RUSSIA. 



259 



Terrible had not been a rightful one. He gave 
orders that his name should be left out in the 
liturgy, and, sad to say, this order appears to 
have been obeyed by some of the clergy ; but he 
soon found that the people were not thus to be 
shaken in their love and loyalty to the little 
czaro witch. 

" Neither did he succeed any better in the 
attempt to injure Demetrius by spreading false 
reports concerning him. It was publicly affirmed 
by the friends of Boris that the child was of a 
cruel and perverse temper, and loved already to 
inflict pain and to shed blood. In order to alarm 
the boyards a story was invented that the czaro- 
witch, playing w T ith some other boys on the ice, 
had built up twenty snow men, named them after 
the regent and the other chief officers, and then 
had them beheaded, saying, 4 This is what you 
have to expect when I become czar.'' But no one 
believed this history ; for those who best knew the 
princely boy affirmed him to be of a noble and 
gentle disposition. They spoke of him by stealth, 
as it were, with mingled compassion and awe, as 
of one over whom some dark, unknown peril was 

s 2 



260 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



hanging. His mother shared this feeling, and 
never allowed him to be parted from her day or 
night. She even prepared his food with her own 
hands, lest poison should be mixed with it ; but 
all her care could not save the poor child from a 
violent death 

" Did Boris murder him V asked Dora. 

" There is strong proof, " replied Colonel Oake- 
ley, "that the plot for his destruction was devised 
by Boris, and carried into effect by three of Deme- 
trius's own servants, whom the regent hired for the 
purpose. It was in the open light of day that this 
great crime was committed. The little czarowitch, 
now nine years old, had just returned from church 
with his mother. It was his usual time for walk- 
ing in the garden, and his governess, Basilia, a 
wicked woman, bribed by Boris, led him by the 
hand thither. It seems the child lingered and 
looked round for his mother, for we are told 
Basilia drew him forcibly on to the staircase 
where the three villains were waiting. 4 Prince,' 
said one of them, taking his other hand, ' I see 
you have a new necklace on ! ' The child raised 
his head with a smile, and said, ' Oh, no ! it is my 



THE HISTOUY OF RUSSIA. 



261 



old one.'' At this moment, the wretch stabbed 
him in the throat. He had strength to tear him- 
self from BasihVs grasp, and throw his arms 
round his nurse, who ran shrieking to his aid. 
The faithful creature defended him in so desperate 
a manner, that she nearly lost her own life. The 
czarina now hastened to the spot, but, alas ! she 
was only just in time to see the little victim expire. 
His murderers fled ; but the nurse had had pre- 
sence of mind enough to point them out, and they 
were immediately followed. The beadle of the 
cathedral, who chanced to be in the palace, ran to 
the bell-tower and sounded an alarm. Its deep 
tones roused the whole city, and the streets were 
directly filled with people, making their way to- 
wards the palace. Their first idea was, that a fire 
had broken out there ; but when the doors were 
flung open, and the body of the czarowitch dis- 
played to view, the horror of all was unspeakable. 
One of Boris's hired ruffians had been bold enough 
to return to the scene of the murder, and after 
examining the body, he coolly assured all present 
that the child had stabbed himself by accident, in 
a fit of epilepsy. A thousand voices shouted in 

reply, ; Murderer ! ' and he was torn in pieces by 

\ 



262 



CONVERSATIONS ON" 



the incensed people. His accomplices shared the 
same fate, — all but Basilia, who was rescued from 
their fury in the hope that she would confess the 
whole plot. 

" No sooner had the people satisfied their ven- 
geance than they began to be frightened at what 
they had done. The chief magistrates wrote an 
account of the whole matter, and sent it direct to 
the czar. But Boris had foreseen every thing. 
Some of his own officers waylaid the courier, and 
took his despatches. Some private letters de- 
scribing the event were opened, and their contents 
either altered or destroyed ; and the story of the 
epileptic fit was told in all directions. Two 
boyards in the regent's secret were sent to Oug- 
litch, to look into, or rather to hush up the matter. 
We are told that 6 one of them, named Klechnin, 
went to the church where Demetrius lay in his 
coffin ; and seeing the fair young face with a 
lovely smile upon it, and the ghastly marks of 
violence on the blood-stained throat, trembled 
from head to foot, and was like one turned to 
stone." He recovered himself, however, and made 
out a plausible story, throwing all the blame of the 
uproar on the unfortunate czarina and her family. 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 



263 



and accusing the men of Ougliteh of sedition and 
treason. The czarina was shut up in prison for 
the rest of her life, and many of the citizens were 
either executed or banished to the new colony of 
Siberia. 

Feodor showed real grief when told of 
his little brother's death, but his thoughts were 
soon distracted from this misfortune by another. 
The Khan of Crimea died, and his successor, a 
warlike youth, resolved to attack Moscow. The 
reason he gave for doing so was that no khan 
could be considered by his tribe a tried and brave 
warrior until he had led them to the banks of the 
Oka. Boris made haste to put the city in a state 
of defence, and even the poor sinking Feodor 
exerted himself, reviewed his troops, and said a 
few kind words to each boyard ; he insisted on 
sending his nobles and the whole of his guard to 
defend the gates, and he stayed quite alone with 
Irene and a chaplain, and gave himself up to 
prayer for the safety of Moscow. When the 
Tartar host came in sight, and pitched before the 
walls, and even when the battle was raging, and 
life and death hung on its issue, Feodor never 
quailed. * He held it a sin to be afraid,' says the 



264 



CONVERSATIONS ON 



annalist ; 4 and so he not only remained quite calm 
himself, but inspired courage in those who came 
near him.' ' Fear not,' he said to a boyard who 
trembled at the great number of the enemy ; 4 to- 
morrow the khan will no longer be here."' His 
words came true ; the khan, who had expected to 
find Moscow as easy a prey as it had been twenty- 
three years before, was quite disheartened at the 
stout resistance he met with. This was the first 
regular pitched battle between the Russians and 
Tartars, and the former had much the best of it. 
The idea of renewing the struggle the next day 
was very distasteful both to the khan and his 
officers, and after a hurried consultation they gave 
orders for a general retreat, and departed an hour 
before daybreak. The Russians pursued them for 
many miles, seized upon the khan's own baggage 
and carriages, and wounded him in the arm : 
scarcely a third of his army found their way back 
to the Crimea. 

" In the same year Feodor and Irene were made 
very happy by the birth of a little daughter, whom 
they named Theodosia. What Boris thought of 
this new obstacle between him and the throne 
cannot be known; for no one expressed greater 



THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA* 



265 



joy than he did at the birth of the little princess ; 
no one was louder in lamentation when, some 
months afterwards, she died. 

44 It seems, however, that the feeble-minded czar 
was not altogether his dupe. Boris and he were 
one day in the cathedral of Moscow, and Boris 
was helping to move the remains of one of the 
archbishops into a silver coffin. The czar looked 
sadly at him. and said, 4 Show reverence to holy 
things, regent of the 44 orthodox people !" for 
soon thou wilt be called upon to govern this em- 
pire. When thou shalt have attained the summit 
of thy desires, forget not that all greatness is vain 
and transitory.' 

44 This was in 1596. At Christmas of the next 
year Feodor was taken ill, and in January, 1598, 
he died. To the last he had in earthly things no 
will but that of Boris, and to him he earnestly 
commended his wife and his country. When 
dying he begged for an interview alone with his 
beloved Irene, but what was then spoken between 
them never transpired. He passed away calmly, 
without pain of body or disquiet of mind, and 
Russia mourned for him as she had never mourned 
even for her wisest and ablest sovereigns. 

T 



266 



CONVERSATIONS, &C. 



" With him ended the line of Ruric and the first 
great epoch of Russian history. How Boris pros- 
pered on the throne he had so unrighteously ob- 
tained, and how, after years of wild confusion, 
Russia rose like a phoenix out of her ashes, I hope 
to relate to you another time." 



THE END. 



GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON. 



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